3rd Circuit upholds termination for instruction on Holocaust denial theories

On February 22, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all New Jersey employers) affirmed the dismissal of discrimination, hostile work environment, and wrongful termination claims filed by a former nontenured high school history teacher and self-proclaimed nonpracticing Muslim of Egyptian descent. The appeals court upheld the district court’s dismissal of the former employee’s claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) and §1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, finding he failed to allege sufficient facts. The court further dismissed his claims for First Amendment violations and defamation.

Facts

Jason Mostafa Ali was a history teacher at Woodbridge High School from September 2015 to September 2016. In May 2016, his department supervisor received several internal complaints about his instruction on the Holocaust. Specifically, sources confirmed he had taught students that “Hitler didn’t hate Jews,” and that “statistics on the death counts were ‘exaggerated.’”

Around the same time, Ali had also prepared and presented a lesson on the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The lesson required the reading of certain online articles, translated by the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute (MEMRI), alleging U.S. government involvement in the attacks. Links to the articles were posted on a school-sponsored website for student access. The MEMRI articles also contained links to anti-Semitic articles.