Employee sues insurer for FMLA retaliation after prayer mistaken for sleeping

On April 20, 2024, Nasser’s mother was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He was granted FMLA leave beginning May 30, 2024, to care for her during her last illness. He returned to work on August 19, 2024, after she died. 

What he came back to, according to the case filing (Nasser v. American United Life Insurance Company, No. 1:26-cv-481, S.D. Ind.), looked nothing like the job he left. A new employee had been hired into his role. His responsibilities had been degraded. His manager moved his desk right next to hers — and then refused to speak to him. 

What followed was a pattern of escalation. His manager began issuing performance improvement plans over what Nasser describes as very minor, pretextual issues, each one accompanied by threats of termination. When he brought his concerns to the company’s HR department — telling them he believed his manager was building a case to fire him — he alleges he was warned that taking any action would invite retaliation from his manager. 

Then came January 23, 2025. Nasser was praying at his desk when two co-workers complained to his manager that he was asleep. His explanation was disregarded, and he was let go the next day. 

The case also includes a national origin discrimination claim under Title VII. Nasser alleges his manager learned his family was from Syria and held bias tied to a long-standing tension in Terre Haute, Indiana, where both families have roots — a dynamic that has included disparaging references to a so-called “Syrian Mafia.”