Dr. Samer Ilayan, a former Corewell Health physician, is suing the healthcare group for alleged religious-based discrimination.

The bombshell lawsuit was filed this week and it claims that one of Corewell Health’s clinics in Taylor violated the former employee’s civil rights among other serious allegations.

Ilayan started his residency in 2019 and was eventually hired as an attending physician at Beaumont Athens Clinic in Taylor. But he said that in less than a year he was wrongfully let go.

“To say my family worked so hard as immigrants coming to America for a better life, and for me to go through all that hard work, was taken away, it really crushed me,” he said.

As a practicing Muslim, Ilayan said he requested 5-minute breaks for daily prayers and time to attend weekly Friday prayers. He said his requests were denied.

“Yes, 100 percent,” he said. “They started acting differently to me. Your culture is different here. The way you are acting is different than what we are used to. They began making allegations against my professionalism and patient care.”

According to Ilayan, he was put on a performance improvement plan for missing patient appointments and was later fired, but the reason for his firing was not written in his termination letter.

A spokesperson for Corewell Health sent the following statement to WXYZ-TV: “The allegations in Dr. Ilayan’s lawsuit are false. During Dr. Ilayan’s employment, he requested and received religious accommodation for time in his schedule dedicated to prayer. We are committed to providing reasonable workplace accommodations whenever possible for religious beliefs and practices.”

Ilayan’s attorney Jon Marko said the 18-page lawsuit speaks for itself.

“All he wanted to do was to keep his faith and to be able to be a doctor and help patients. And those patients were safe,” Marko said.

– WXYZ-TV. Edited for style.