WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider the case of a Muslim immigrant found by a jury to have suffered workplace harassment.

Abdul Azimi asked the justices to take his case after a federal jury declined to award compensation despite concluding that he was subjected to an oppressive and hostile work environment at Jordan’s Meats Inc. in Portland, Maine.

Azimi, who arrived in the United States from Afghanistan during the 1980s, said the harassment got worse after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

After a six-day trial last year, jurors found that harassment from co-workers created a work environment that “was hostile to his race, religion or ethnic origin.” But those same jurors declined to award damages because they said he was not harmed by the conduct.

Azimi, who was fired for poor attendance while the case was pending, asked the justices to consider whether the U.S. District judge in the case was mistaken in dismissing his claim that his discharge was discriminatory. Azimi’s lawyers also had asked the justices to consider whether the judge erred by refusing to allow jury instructions on consideration of punitive damages where the jury returned no compensatory damages.

On the lack of compensation, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Azimi put no evidence in the record of any out-of-pocket costs for medical treatment or psychological counseling.

or of any wages lost from the abuse he suffered.

The jury “reasonably rejected” the testimony from Azimi, his wife and a friend about his emotional distress, the appeals court said.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals bars punitive damages unless there’s first an award of compensatory damages. Since there were no financial damages, then Azimi was ineligible for punitive damages, his lawyer said.

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