A 52-year-old father of five in Brampton is suing his former employer for wrongful dismissal and violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code, alleging that the company discriminated against him on the basis of his expression of Palestinian identity and solidarity.
On Jan. 15, Amjad Ramadan, a Canadian citizen of Palestinian origin, launched a lawsuit against NTN Bearing Corporation of Canada, an Ontario-based manufacturer of ball bearings and other automotive parts.
In a detailed statement of claim viewed by The Grind, Ramadan says that he was treated in a “discriminatory and humiliating manner” by his employer in response to his efforts to raise awareness about the humanitarian situation in Gaza during Israel’s retaliation to the Oct. 7 attacks. This began in fall 2023 and culminated in early 2025 when NTN fired Ramadan following an online pressure campaign.
“This has been the worst year of my life,” Ramadan told The Grind in a video call.
“What they did to me has had a great impact on my mental health, on my physical health and on my reputation. It has done irreparable damage to my reputation, and has affected my family and my loved ones around me. It turned my life upside down.”
Disciplinary action
Amjad was born in Jordan to Palestinian refugees and immigrated to Canada in 2005. He became a citizen in 2012.
In 2009, Ramadan started working at NTN Canada. The company is part of the larger NTN Corporation, a large, publicly-traded company headquartered in Japan, which has facilities around the world
Ramadan was eventually promoted to the engineering department as an applications engineer, and, in 2016, he received another promotion upon obtaining his professional engineer designation. According to his statement of claim, Ramadan had a spotless record over the course of his 15 years at the company, and was named “Employee of the Year” in 2017.
After the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel began an intensive bombing campaign in Gaza that human rights groups around the world have described as a genocide. Ramadan was deeply impacted by the systemic killing and destruction in Gaza, which claimed the lives of seven of his extended family members.
In the following months, Ramadan expressed to his managers a desire to raise awareness among his co-workers about the human rights violations and civilian suffering in Gaza.
In the lawsuit, Ramadan describes these efforts as “transparent” and “respectful.” In November 2023, Ramadan emailed NTN’s human resources manager with a proposal to share with his co-workers links to two publicly available documentaries about Palestine. He alleges the proposal was rejected and he was told that this was “not appropriate in the workplace.” Ramadan says he complied.
Months later, he again contacted the human resources manager to ask if he was allowed to send a GoFundMe fundraising campaign for aid efforts in Gaza. He alleges he was told not to share this campaign by email, but was told he could discuss it with his coworkers in person.
In the summer of 2024, following a company contest, NTN gave Ramadan two gift cards to Indigo, the Canadian bookselling giant. For years, Palestine supporters have called for a boycott of Indigo, which is controlled by CEO Heather Reisman and her husband Gerald Schwartz, who are the main funders of their HESEG Foundation, a charity that donates millions in scholarships which encourage foreigners (or “lone soldiers”) to join the Israeli military. In another email to human resources, Ramadan expressed his principled objection to Indigo, and asked if the gift cards could be replaced. This request was denied without explanation, according to the statement of claim.
Later that summer, as the attacks on Gaza continued, Ramadan says he approached both his supervisor and human resources to advise him on how he might best to raise awareness about civilian suffering and the complicity of global private actors, including Indigo. Receiving no answer, Ramadan says he distributed a paper flyer to NTN staff containing web links to publicly available articles concerning the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Initially, he faced no objections, but soon after, Ramadan’s managers called a meeting where they imposed a five-day suspension without pay. The suspension letter, which The Grind has seen, contained “vague and unparticularized allegations,” according to the lawsuit, that Ramadan’s conduct had made certain staff members “uncomfortable.” Further, the letter accused Ramadan of approaching individual employees and telling them that they were “complicit in Israel’s genocide,” which Ramadan “categorically denies” doing.
In Ramadan’s lawsuit, he emphasizes that his advocacy efforts were deeply personal and humanitarian in nature, and not political. It argues that NTN’s decision “to equate expressions of compassion for civilians in his homeland with ‘political activity’ was unfair and discriminatory.”
Moreover, Ramadan’s lawyers note that his employment contract “did not allow for the imposition of a without-pay suspension of any kind.” Therefore, the suspension was not lawful, they argue.
Representatives for NTN did not respond to The Grind’s request to respond to the details contained in the statement of claim.
NTN fires Ramadan for ‘wilful misconduct’
In the fall of 2024, Ramadan went on short-term disability leave from work. At the time, he was experiencing heightened symptoms associated with major depressive disorder and anxiety, symptoms that he says were exacerbated by his treatment in the workplace.
On Dec. 20, a well-known, anonymous, pro-Israel social media account on X, @l3v1at4an, known as “Leviathan,” posted about Ramadan with detailed information about his job at NTN. The post included screenshots from Ramadan’s social media from a year earlier and photographs of Ramadan attending pro-Palestine protests.
Leviathan’s post included a photo of Ramadan attending a protest at Bathurst & Sheppard and holding a sign saying “Anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela was also labelled a ‘terrorist.’” Leviathan claimed this showed that Ramadan “intimidates and harasses Jews & Israelis with Hamas terrorist glorification,” an allegation Ramadan strongly denies.
In response to Leviathan’s post, Ramadan received hateful comments. Users tagged the accounts of NTN Canada and its CEO, calling for Ramadan to be fired. Others called for him to be deported.
On Dec. 26, protest videographer Caryma Sa’d shared a short video on X showing a protest outside an Indigo store. In the video, Ramadan can be seen holding a Palestinian flag as customers walk by. The video picks up as he is saying “genocide.” He then says: “That’s wrong. What you’re doing is wrong. Kids are kids. We are against the slaughter of children. Kids shouldn’t die.”
More than 20,000 children have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since Oct. 2023.
Leviathan responded to the post, tagging NTN Canada, claiming Ramadan “proudly, harasses families shopping on Boxing Day & targets a Jewish neighborhood.” Leviathan also claims that Ramadan is “representing” NTN by wearing an NTN jacket, though no company logos appear visible in the clip.
Ramadan claims that out of an abundance of caution he had covered all visible logos so that the jacket was not identifiable as NTN apparel.
The next month, in early January of 2025, Ramadan’s managers summoned him for an in-person meeting. According to the statement of claim, Ramadan was told by managers that the company had received two telephone complaints from customers, and the managers displayed the post from Leviathan on a large video screen.
Finally, according to Ramadan, his manager played the video clip. Ramadan stated that his conduct was peaceful and lawful, and emphasized that his jacket was not a company-issued uniform, but rather promotional apparel that was widely available.
Ramadan was then informed that he was being terminated after 15 years for “wilful misconduct.” The termination letter, viewed by The Grind, states that Ramadan engaged in “political activity” while wearing “identifiable NTN clothing,” noting that the activity “resulted in negative commentary on social media reflecting poorly on NTN.” The termination also accused Ramadan of distributing “political propaganda.”
The termination letter does not specify any objectionable statements made by Ramadan, nor does it describe the “political activity” Ramadan was involved in that caused the company “reputational damage.”
After Ramadan objected to this decision, his managers said it had come from upper management in the U.S., at a level above the President and CEO of NTN Canada, according to the lawsuit.
Ramadan’s lawyers point out in the suit that NTN does not have a policy of restricting or limiting the wearing or use of company-branded clothing outside of work. It further alleges that NTN failed to conduct a fair and impartial investigation into the defamatory allegations made against Ramadan, opting instead to use these allegations “to justify the wrongful dismissal of a loyal, hardworking, and long-serving employee.”
Ramadan now seeks nearly $400,000 in damages, a sum that represents compensation and lost wages, plus general damages for dignitary harm.
None of the allegations in Ramadan’s lawsuit have been proven in court. NTN has not yet filed a statement of defence, though the company has acknowledged the lawsuit, Ramadan’s legal representative Faisal Bhabha tells The Grind.
‘Textbook anti-Palestinian racism,’ lawyer says
Bhabha, who works with The Legal Centre for Palestine (LCP) — a non-profit group that provides legal support to individuals and groups facing discrimination, harassment and legal challenges related to their Palestinian identity and activism — believes that NTN clearly violated Ramadan’s employment contract.
He also believes that Ramadan’s case represents a “textbook case of anti-Palestinian racism.”
“In the workplace, anti-Palestinian racism is characterized by the systematic silencing, penalization, or harassment of individuals in employment for expressing solidarity with Palestine or identifying as Palestinian, whether inside or outside the workplace,” Bhabha explains. “Here, the anti-Palestinian racism manifested variously, beginning with suppressing expression in the workplace. And it culminated with the employer punishing Amjad for his legitimate off-duty activities that were expressions of his Palestinian identity.”
Bhabha says that Palestinians are held to a different standard than other identity groups. If Amjad’s colleagues took part in the annual Walk With Israel event as a way to express their national identity, he says, “they would almost certainly be protected from termination by their employer, even if they were waving the flag of a country that is in the middle of an alleged genocide.”
“Palestinian identity doesn’t even come close to enjoying that level of protection, and they’re the victims of this genocide,” Bhabha adds.
Ramadan echoes Bhabha’s point, noting that in the past, his coworkers expressed concerns about Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine, without experiencing disciplinary action.
“There is a campaign to silence us, or anybody who dares to speak up for the Palestinian human rights,” Ramadan says.
“You have the right and the freedom to talk about everything except Palestine,” he says. “When you talk about Palestinian history, culture, or human rights, that is where the exception starts. You have no freedom to do that at all. Not in the workplace, not in public places, not at schools.”
‘Looking for redemption’
A year after he was terminated from NTN, Ramadan remains unable to work due to his disability caused by major depressive disorder and anxiety.
“The impact of being summarily terminated from employment with an industry leader like NTN cannot be overstated,” Bhabha says. “Even if he had been in excellent health, Amjad’s reputation was trashed and he would have been viewed as ‘trouble’ despite his great talent.”
Ramadan says that many of his friends and family members — including his five children — have stopped attending pro-Palestine protests out of fear of reprisal or losing their jobs.
“My kids used to go to protests with me, but they are scared,” Ramadan says. “They tell me, ‘I don’t want something to happen to me at school, or what if I will not find employment in the future?’ This is affecting our community. I want my children to be willing to fight for their people.”
Ramadan says he wants to share his story so that it might give others the courage to do the right thing. But his main priority is redemption.
“What they did to me is wrong,” he says. “As a Palestinian and a human being.”
This article appeared in the 2026 Apr/May issue.