Muslim Pakistani store manager files discrimination lawsuit against CVS

HOUSTON - CVS Caremark Corp. and CVS Pharmacy Inc. face a discrimination lawsuit from one of their store managers.

In court papers filed July 9 in Houston federal court, Moazzam Pirzada accuses the defendants of mistreating him because he is a Muslim Pakistani in his late 40s.

Pizarda works at one of the CVS stores in Southwest Houston.

According to the suit, the plaintiff suffers from back problems to which his employers refuse to accommodate.

He unsuccessfully applied for a 10-pound maximum lifting restriction, though CVS granted the same request from another store manager, who was purportedly younger than him, it says.

His disability reportedly prevented him from working for 13 months and caused him "severe emotional distress, anxiety, sleeplessness, elevated blood pressure, an eating disorder and short temperament."

The suit further alleges that the respondents failed to uphold their promise to give him a raise upon his transfer to the store he is currently assigned at, stating they instead increased a younger manager's salary for switching stores.

Pizarda additionally asserts CVS singled him out because he is Muslim by repeatedly reprimanding him for eating with a fellow Muslim co-worker after sundown during the holy month of Ramadan.

A jury trial is requested.

Attorney Clara Delgado Rossell of Coane and Associates PC in Houston is representing the complainant.

Case No. 4:13-CV-2001