Oct. 1, 2003 - A federal discrimination suit announced yesterday accuses managers at the swanky Plaza hotel of cursing its Muslim staff members, calling them "terrorists," blaming them for the Sept. 11 attacks and physically assaulting some of them.

The class action lawsuit was filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which said it sees a trend of discrimination against Muslims and Arabs since the attacks. A second suit yesterday was brought against Newsweek and a graphics company used by the magazine.

The suit on behalf of 10 Muslim, Arab and South Asian employees at the landmark Fifth Avenue hotel said managers called them "al-Qaida," "Taliban" and "Dumb Muslims. " The employees also were allegedly accused of destroying the World Trade Center.

"The Plaza has made our lives and the lives of our families difficult," said Adel Fathelbab, 48, who still works at the Plaza's Oak Room restaurant.

Tulun Ahmed, 36, said he was kicked in the shin by a manager at the restaurant and was later allegedly forced to resign. Another employee was grabbed in the crotch, EEOC attorney Kam S. Wong said.

Amanita Duga-Carroll, a spokeswoman at the Plaza, acknowledged some of the discrimination and said the hotel has addressed the problems, terminating one assistant manager in April and suspending others.

"The employees currently bringing these allegations failed to make their complaints known to either the Plaza or to their own union representatives," the hotel said in a statement. "Instead, they put in motion a legal action seeking monetary damages ... When a jury hears all of the facts, the Plaza will be fully vindicated."

The Plaza is owned by Plaza Operating Partners and run by Fairmont Hotel and Resorts of Toronto, which is named in the lawsuit. The hotel once was owned by Donald Trump; he sold it in 1995.

The EEOC also filed a discrimination lawsuit on behalf of Jesus R. Mustafa, a technical editor at Applied Graphics Technologies in Manhattan who worked on graphics that appeared in Newsweek. He was fired in September 2001 after, in response to a manager's question, he said his grandfather was Lebanese and Muslim, according to the suit and his lawyer, Michele J. Le Moal-Gray, a trial attorney at the EEOC. Mustafa was later accused of saying that the "U.S. deserved the terrorist attacks," which he denies.

Applied Graphics Technologies did not return phone calls. Ken Weine, a Newsweek spokesman, said, "We were never Mr. Mustafa's employer. We didn't hire him, fire him or have anything to do with his employment. We are mystified why we are in this case at all."

Since the terrorist attacks, the EEOC has received 837 complaints nationwide alleging backlash discrimination by individuals who are perceived to be Muslim, Arabic, Middle Eastern, South Asian or Sikh. The two most common issues are harassment and wrongful firing. Nearly 100 individuals have received $1.45 million in monetary benefits from EEOC actions.

-----To see more of Newsday, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsday.com

(c) 2003, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. WPO, AGTX,