WASHINGTON, March 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The Dell computer giant has reinstated and granted religious accommodation to 31 Muslim contract employees after reaching a settlement on their dispute over workplace prayers.

The Muslim workers, mostly Somalis, were fired in early February from Dell's logistics facility in Nashville, Tennessee, after they sought to perform the Maghreb prayer each day after sunset, a prayer which is tied to a particular time of day.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) _ a national Islamic civil rights advocacy group _ said Thursday, March 17, that the new settlement stipulates the 31 Muslim employees will be rehired, receive back pay and be granted religious accommodation.

Under the settlement, the firm managers will also receive additional training on existing religious accommodation policies and practices, the advocacy group said.

"We are pleased with both the terms of the settlement and with the cooperative attitude of all parties in the negotiations," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.

"We thank everyone from around the world who contacted Dell to express their support for reasonable religious accommodation in the workplace."

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires an employer to accommodate religious practices unless it causes an "undue hardship."

The settlement was reached following a meeting on Thursday between representatives of CAIR, Dell, the Muslim workers, the Nashville Metro Human Relations Commission, and Spherion Corp., the company that provided the workers to Dell.

Commenting on the settlement, Massoud Sabri, a member of IslamOnline.net's Fatwa team, said there allowing Muslim workers to perform prayers in time and doing work bear no contradiction.

"However, a Muslim worker should not spend much time in performing the prayers, as he/she can perform only fard (obligatory prayers) during the working hours."

"He/she can also delay the prayers if he is not able to leave the work or hardships would be caused if he does."

Sabri, however, stressed that the Muslim worker can't permanently abandon the prayers for the sake of work.

The new settlement between the Muslim workers and the computer giant can be used as a model for solving any dispute might come up on workplace prayers, said CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar, who also participated in the negotiations.

"This settlement can be used as model by other production facilities that employ large numbers of Muslim workers."

CAIR said other terms of the settlement will not be made public, CAIR said.

Several companies in Nashville, home to some 5-8 thousands Somali Muslims, allow Muslim women to wear hijab in the workplace and also offer Muslim workers halal meals.

However, a number of Somali workers fired from a nearby Whirlpool plant lost a trial on a similar issue last September.

The jury decided Whirlpool was within its rights to limit workers' break times so as not to disrupt factory production.

A May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded that the Arab Americans and the Muslim minority in the United States had taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.