Palestinian-American Lyft driver loses job after reporting racist incident

Civil rights advocates are urging for the reinstatement of a Palestinian-American Lyft driver in Columbus, Ohio, who says he was allegedly subjected to a hate incident by passengers, who then complained that the driver did not complete the ride. 

Salam Zaghmot, who had a 5-star rating for the past five and a half years, says he experienced a racist incident when four female passengers made disparaging comments about his name and background. During the ride, which took place on 2 December, he says he was called a "terrorist" for no other reason than his background.

Zaghmot says he initially tried to de-escalate the situation by identifying himself as a native of Denver, Colorado. The passengers, however, allegedly persisted with their offensive remarks, suggesting he was affiliated with hate groups.

Feeling that he had no other options left, he reported the incident to Lyft through its safety feature, giving a detailed account of the incident.

Four days later, Zaghmot received a response from the ride-share company, which informed him that a complaint had been filed against him for not completing the assigned ride and for allegedly engaging in discriminatory behaviour. Without a follow-up or investigation, he was removed as a driver from the Lyft app.

The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Lyft's response to this incident.

"It is deeply troubling that Lyft did not thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident before taking punitive action against Mr. Zaghmot. Lyft’s actions in this case raise serious concerns about the company’s commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all its drivers, regardless of their background or identity," CAIR-Ohio's legal director Lina Abbaoui said in a statement.

"It is deeply troubling that Lyft did not thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident before taking punitive action against Mr. Zaghmot. Lyft’s actions in this case raise serious concerns about the company’s commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of all its drivers, regardless of their background or identity," she said.

"We call on Lyft to conduct a thorough investigation into this matter, reinstate Mr. Zaghmot as a driver, and implement measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future."

Since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza three months ago, there has been a spike in hate attacks and employee dismissals related to the war.