French Engineer Sues Company for Racial Discrimination Over Forced Name Change

The story dates back to January 1997, when Mohamed Amghar was hired as a commercial engineer in a software company. The interview at Intergraph France went well until the time when his supervisor informed him that he would have to change his first name, specifying not to choose Philippe.

Due to his difficult family and financial situation, he reluctantly accepts. This is how Mohamed Amghar becomes Antoine Amghar. Electronic signature, business cards and even pay slips display the new name.

For its part, the company’s management, through its communications manager based in the United States, said it was unaware of a discriminatory situation and that no evidence supporting the idea that Mohamed Amghar was forced to wear the first name of Antoine for his relations with clients or for his internal work had been found during a thorough investigation.

According to a 2009 ruling by the Court of Cassation, asking an employee to change their first name when it reflects an ethnic or geographical origin or religious affiliation is a violation of the Labor Code and discrimination.