Michigan teacher fired over her niqab reportedly wins jury verdict of about $1.8 million
A federal judge in Michigan let Sudoos Hamood's religious accommodation claims go to trial after she was fired for refusing to remove her niqab while teaching. One outlet reports that a jury awarded her about $1.8 million in February 2026; the verdict form has not been seen, and statutory caps may have reduced the final amount.
Sudoos Hamood worked as an English instructor for ACCESS, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, in Michigan, and was fired after refusing to remove her niqab while teaching. Her case, Hamood v. ACCESS (E.D. Mich., No. 2:23-cv-10270), went to trial after a federal judge allowed her religious accommodation claims to proceed.
What the court record shows
According to the court's opinion of 31 March 2025, on 8 October 2021 ACCESS managers told Hamood that she had to remove her niqab while teaching virtually or be terminated. ACCESS said it tried to find an alternative position that would let her keep the niqab but lacked funding for one. The parties agreed that her refusal to remove the niqab led to her dismissal, and ACCESS disputed the sincerity of her belief.
Judge Linda V. Parker denied Hamood's motion for partial summary judgment and granted ACCESS's motion in part. She dismissed Hamood's separate disparate-treatment, hostile-work-environment and retaliation claims at summary judgment, and let her religious accommodation claims, under Title VII and Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, go to a jury. The judge did not find the belief insincere; she treated the reasonableness of the accommodation and the question of undue hardship as matters for the jury. A court order dated 28 January 2026 denied ACCESS's motion for reconsideration.
The reported verdict
USA Herald, on 24 February 2026, reported that a federal jury found that ACCESS did not reasonably accommodate Hamood's religious practice and could have let her teach an all-female in-person class without undue hardship. It reported damages of $5,471 in economic loss, $300,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages, about $1.8 million in total. A law blog repeating the report describes the amount variously as $1.8 million and almost $2 million.
No verdict form and no second news report has been seen, so the figures are reported, not confirmed. Federal law also limits the combined compensatory and punitive damages a court can award under Title VII, so the final judgment may differ from the jury's figure.
What is not established
- The jury's verdict form and the final judgment amount.
- Whether ACCESS has filed post-trial motions or an appeal.
Sources. CourtListener, Hamood v. ACCESS, opinion · GovInfo, E.D. Mich. 2:23-cv-10270 · USA Herald, jury verdict report · Uniform Law Commission case law blog
As of 11 October 2026.