Muslim Ex-Caddie Sues Atlantic Golf Club For Discrimination

A Muslim man is suing the exclusive Hamptons golf club where he worked as a caddie for 13 years, claiming that he was discriminated against, and even threatened, based on his race and religion.

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month against Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, Javed Khan, of Riverhead, said the harassment escalated when he complained — and after he witnessed disgraced financier Bernie Madoff's golf clubs stolen.

Khan is of South Asian descent and was born in Guyana in South America, according to the lawsuit.

Among the allegations in the U.S. District Court filing, Khan said one of his supervisors called him a terrorist who did not look like his other co-workers and did not belong at the golf club.

When he caddied for Bill Clinton in August 2011, the supervisor told him that he should be worried that his fingerprints were on the former president's clubs because the government would check his prints and determine if he was member of Al Qaeda, the lawsuit alleges.

Khan said that when he accepted the assistant caddie master position at the end of 2007, the supervisor made good on threats to make his life "hell" and miserable" if he took the job.

According to the lawsuit, Khan told the club's golf professional about the harassment on multiple occasions, but the situation was never rectified and at one point his pay was slashed from $22 per hour to $20 per hour.

And in 2009, he was used as a "scapegoat" after witnessing the theft of Madoff's golf clubs and blamed for another employee's firing, the lawsuit states. According to a statement from Khan's attorney, the clubs were the property of the U.S. government at that time. Khan said Atlantic spread rumors among members that he was a "liar and a thief" and that in 2010 he was often told to hide from members because, as a minority, "he was not the best representation of the club."

Khan worked for Atlantic from 1998 until 2011, when he resigned. The lawsuit says it was a "constructive discharge," i.e., the working conditions were so bad he was forced to quit. Khan said he was told in August 2011 that if he did not quit by the end of the season, he would be fired. He stopped going to work at the end of October and tendered his resignation that December, the lawsuit states.

On top of losing his income, he sought psychological treatment due to the harassment, Khan's lawsuit states.

Khan filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on June 18, 2012, and was issued a right-to-sue letter by the EEOC on Feb. 12, 2013, according to the lawsuit.

Staff who answered the phone at Atlantic Golf Club Thursday said that the general manager was the only one who could comment and he would not be available until Friday morning; however, he was not available Friday morning either and did not respond to voicemails.