SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Palestinian American nurse has filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, alleging the health care system failed to protect her from a racially motivated assault by a coworker and later retaliated against her after she reported the incident.
On Feb. 5, 2026, the Workers’ Advocate Law Group Professional Corporation and the Sacramento Valley office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations jointly filed the lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. According to a CAIR Sacramento Valley press release issued Feb. 6, the lawsuit was filed in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of Mona Joy Katafi.
Katafi, a Christian Palestinian American registered nurse and mother of three, has worked at Kaiser hospitals for nine years.
The complaint alleges Kaiser Foundation Hospitals failed to fulfill its legal duty to protect employees from abuse.
According to the complaint, the alleged abuse began after a coworker made statements expressing vitriol toward Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians in January 2023. The coworker allegedly said, “I hate Arabs and Muslims since September 11,” in the presence of witnesses.
The same coworker is also alleged to have complained to Kaiser management about Katafi’s online avatar, arguing that the Palestinian flag was “linked to terrorism” and that Katafi “posed a threat.”
Despite these incidents, the lawsuit alleges Kaiser took no action against the coworker.
The complaint further alleges that on Aug. 8, 2024, the coworker physically assaulted Katafi at work by “forcefully push[ing] a chair into the back of [Katafi]’s legs, causing [her] body to fall forward and her knees to buckle.”
Katafi immediately reported the incident, but Kaiser did not respond for 10 months before closing the case as “unsubstantiated,” despite not interviewing any witnesses, according to the complaint. The same day her report was closed, a “retaliatory” investigation was opened against her.
“I reported the assault immediately,” Katafi said in the press release. “I followed every policy. I waited for Kaiser to protect me. Instead, they spent ten months protecting the person who hurt me. I had to leave my Emergency Room position because Kaiser refused to separate me from my assailant. I am a mother of three children who depends on my Kaiser health insurance—I cannot quit. But I should not have to work alongside someone who physically attacked me.”
CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) Sacramento Valley and the Workers’ Advocate Law Group PC allege Kaiser repeatedly failed to enforce legal protections for Arab and Muslim Americans in its hospitals.
“Kaiser paid $11.5 million in Stewart v. Kaiser in 2021 to fix its discrimination problem,” said Samy Harmoush, founding attorney of Workers’ Advocate Law Group PC. “Three years later, under court supervision, Kaiser allowed an employee to say ‘I hate Arabs and Muslims since September 11,’ physically assault a Palestinian Christian nurse, and then retaliated against her for complaining. This isn’t a failure of training. It’s a choice.”
“When an employer fails to protect an employee from workplace harassment and violence rooted in discrimination, and then retaliates against that employee for reporting it, they violate both state and federal civil rights protections,” said Layli Shirani, civil rights managing attorney for CAIR Sacramento Valley, in the press release.
“Kaiser had multiple opportunities to intervene,” Shirani added. “Instead, they conducted a months-long investigation that never interviewed the assault witness, then opened a retaliatory investigation against Mona the same day they denied her appeal. That’s institutional discrimination.”
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals is one of California’s largest employers, employing millions of men and women from diverse backgrounds. As the complaint notes, Arab and Muslim Americans are protected from discrimination based on their ethnicity and religion under federal and state law.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
