Hearings to be held in March before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission will determine whether a Farmington Hills man will be compensated for lost wages and humiliation as a result of harassment he allegedly faced as an employee of SMART, metro Detroit’s bus system.

A bus mechanic for 15 years, Mazyn Barash quit his job in 2004 after repeatedly being subjected to offensive and stereotypical comments and drawings made by coworkers and posted on the walls of the workplace, according to the complaint.

Michigan Department of Civil Rights investigators determined the claim to be valid and brought the charge against SMART.

A first hearing was held January 31, in which former coworkers testified as witnesses to the harassment, which was said to have intensified after the beginning of the Iraq war.

Barash, 50, is Chaldean.

Witnesses said other coworkers directed racial insults such as “raghead” and “towelhead” at Barash.

Other claims of offensive incidents include Barash being asked where his camel was, photos of terrorists being placed on Barash’s time card, a coworker talking about killing all Iraqis, posting of signs with cartoons ridiculing people of Arab descent, and Barash receiving a letter that threatened him and called him a “sand (n-word).”

A hearing officer will eventually make a recommendation to the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, which has the authority to order compensatory damages.

The hearings were adjourned until March to give the defense an opportunity to review new evidence including audio recordings of complaints made to supervisors that were allegedly ignored.

Both Barash and SMART spokespeople have said they could not comment on the case, but Barash’s sister, Susan Kirma, said she believes her brother will be compensated, based on what she described as strong witness accounts in his favor and weak testimony from the defense.

She said that one witness representing supervisors in the work environment displayed characteristic insensitivity by answering “yes” when asked while under oath if she thought being called a Muslim was a negative label.

Kirma said that she was convinced of the intensity of the discrimination when some of Barash’s former coworkers testified to having left their jobs or transferred to different locations because of being uncomfortable amid the harassment.

“We tend to be kind of laid back, to just put up with it and go to work. But if these were coworkers that were leaving, how bad was he being treated?”

SMART spokespeople have said that SMART does not tolerate discrimination and takes allegations of bias seriously.

The next hearing is set to be held March 10 at the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Cadillac Place, 3054 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.