Dell Inc. and a Nashville, Tennessee human relations agency have resolved a dispute over unscheduled prayer breaks by 31 Muslim contract workers at the No. 1 personal computer maker, the agency said Friday.
The agreement calls for Spherion Corp., which employs the workers, to rehire the employees who left the logistics facility claiming they weren't allowed to conduct sunset, or maghrib, prayers in keeping with Islamic faith, said the Human Relations Commission for the greater Nashville area.
"I am pleased that we have been able to reach an agreement ... I'm looking forward to going back to work. This was a misunderstanding," said staffing agency firm Spherion employee Abdi Nuur in a statement. Spherion is not a Dell subsidiary.
According to a preliminary investigation by the commission, the employees were fired in early February. When the issue was first reported, Dell said that no workers had filed complaints over the issue, which it characterized as a misunderstanding.
"The workers were not fired -- they left their jobs voluntarily due to a misunderstanding and misapplication of our long-standing, existing practice of religious accommodation around prayers," said Dell spokesman David Frink Friday.
Dell uses a "tag-out" system so that one to three workers leave at one time to conduct prayers, rather than having a large group of employees leave at one time, which would slow down work, Frink said.
"There was a misunderstanding between some managers on site and these workers, because the workers felt they needed to voluntarily walk away from the job," Frink said. "The procedure wasn't properly used in this case."
Dell and Spherion employees in Tennessee will receive additional training on Dell's existing practices for religious accommodation, the commission said.
Some of the workers have already returned to work for Spherion at the Dell site, said both Dell and the commission. The remaining workers will be notified of the process for returning to work.
Both Dell and Spherion said in the commission's statement that the companies have a long-standing commitment to, and track record of, diversity and equality in its employment practices.
