(WXYZ) — A former Corewell Health physician is suing the healthcare group for alleged religious-based discrimination.
The bombshell lawsuit was filed this week and it claims that one of Corwell Health clinics in Taylor violated the former employee's civil rights among other serious allegations.
Samer Ilayan started his residency in 2019 and was eventually hired as an attending at Beaumont Athens Clinic in Tayor. But, in less than a year Dr. Ilayan says he was wrongfully let go.
"To say my family worked so hard as immigrants coming to America for a better life, and for me to go through all that hard work, was taken away, it really crushed me," he said.
As a practicing Muslim, Dr. Ilayan says requested 5-minute breaks for daily prayers and time to attend weekly Friday prayers. He says his requests were denied.
"Yes, 100%. They started acting differently to me. Your culture is different here. The way you are acting is different than what we are used to. They began making allegations against my professionalism and patient care," Dr. Ilayan said.
According to Dr. Ilayan, he was put on a performance improvement plan for missing patient appointments and was later fired, but the reason for his firing was not written in his termination letter.
A spokesperson for Corewell Health sent the following statement: "The allegations in Dr. Ilayan's lawsuit are false. During Dr. Ilayan's employment, he requested and received religious accommodation for time in his schedule dedicated to prayer. We are committed to providing reasonable workplace accommodations whenever possible for religious beliefs and practices."
Ilayan's attorney Jon Marko says the 18-page lawsuit speaks for itself.
"All he wanted to do was to keep his faith and to be able to be a doctor and help patients. And those patients were safe," Marko said.
