Alabama university ordered to pay millions in discrimination lawsuit

Associated Press/Report For America

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A jury says a public Alabama university and an employee should pay millions in penalties in a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by an Iranian-born cancer researcher. The jury reached the decision Monday against the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the employee who was described in the lawsuit as being the main perpetrator of the harassment. The lawsuit said Fariba Moeinpour experienced harassment throughout her employment at the university. She worked there for almost a decade before she was fired. The lawsuit said a colleague brandished a gun at Moeinpour and her daughter and called her a racial epithet. A university spokesperson said the school “respectfully disagreed” with the verdict and is “considering next steps.”