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By Kent Larsen
LDS Man Sues INS Claiming Religious Discrimination
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- An LDS Immigration and Naturalization Service agent
filed a lawsuit against the agency Wednesday, claiming that supervisors in
the Salt Lake City office discriminated against him and harrassed him
because he is LDS. The claim came nearly two years after R. Kurt Halverson
filed his first complaint against the agency of the US government with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Halverson, now a resident of Ogden, says that here were no LDS supervisors
in the Salt Lake office and that only four employees there were LDS. He says
that nearly all promotions went to outsiders, and that one supervisor even
called Mormons "sneaky and cultlike" and said he "would like to urinate upon
the St. George Mormon Temple." Halverson adds that a "schism, along
religious lines, has existed in the office between Mormon and Catholic
employees."
The complaint alleges that Halverson was subjected to similar harrassment at
the Denver INS office. Halverson is now employed at the agency's Ogden
office. INS officials refused to comment on the case. Halverson is seeking
compensatory damages, including lost pay and benefits, mental anguish and
attorney's fees.
Source:
Mormon Claims Religious Bias At INS Office
Salt Lake Tribune 16Feb01 D2
By Michael Vigh: Salt Lake Tribune
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