by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch
November 18, 2024
An Iowa judge has ruled against a Fort Dodge man who said the First Amendment shielded him from being fired over anti-Muslim rhetoric.
According to state records, Gregory L. Benfield worked for American Packaging in Story City from July 2022 through July 24, 2024, when he was fired for allegedly violating policies related to harassment and discrimination. He later filed a claim for unemployment benefits, which resulted in a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Carly Smith.
According to Smith’s recent, written findings, on July 18, 2024, two employees of American Packaging were having a workplace conversation about a Muslim friend when Benfield expressed the opinion “that Muslims were bad people.”
The two employees disagreed with Benfield, arguing that while every religion has followers who are bad, Muslims as a whole are not bad people. According to Smith’s findings, Benfield disagreed, cited the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as evidence, and argued that Muslims should be vetted before they enter the country, and that all Muslims now in the United States should be deported.
State records indicate one of Benfield’s colleagues complained to human resources about Benfield’s comments, which led to an internal investigation that, according to the company, uncovered other offensive statements.
Smith’s written findings state that Benfield admitted making comments about “illegal immigrants” and suggesting they all should be deported.
In ruling that Benfield was not entitled to collect unemployment benefits, Smith noted that while Benfield is married to a Hispanic woman, he had also made “discriminatory comments about all Muslims being bad people and needing to be deported from the country. (Benfield) argues that it is his personal opinion, and it should be protected by the First Amendment. However, the employer is a private entity that is entitled to establish reasonable work rules and expect employees to abide by them.”
Smith ruled that Benfield’s “discriminatory comments about Muslims was a deliberate disregard of the standard of behavior that the employer had a right to expect” of employees.
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