The internet has backed a woman for reporting her co-worker and having her transferred to another team by her company's HR department.

Sharing her story on the popular Reddit r/AmITheA**hole forum, the 26-year-old explained that she is Muslim and Moroccan, and had reported her co-worker after a series of incidents in the office.

Islamophobia—defined as a prejudice against Islam or Muslims—remains a prevalent issue in the U.S. The most recent hate-crime statistics report from the FBI in 2020 showed an increase of reported incidents of hate crime increasing from the previous year by 949, contributing to a total of 8,268 hate crime reports against 11,126 victims.

The FBI reported then that 62 percent of victims were targeted because of the offender's bias toward race, ethnicity or ancestry.

In her Reddit post, u/randoooo9876 said: "First of all my first name is a name that is common in western countries too. My last name, I came to know, is actually a Jewish name (I have a Jewish ancestor), but it is very common in my country. So just by name, you would think I am not Moroccan. I am very light-skinned, with light hair and eyes. Not what you would think when you hear African. I came to the U.S. when I was 14 so I don't have an accent."

She explained that in August 2020, she was hired by a company and had until recently worked remotely 100 percent of the time.

At the start of September, she started to return to the office.

"I have a coworker, let's call her L," she said: "L and I have been sort of friends, we both belong to the same team, and even while working remotely we used to have friendly chats sometimes."

When they started working onsite again, L asked the poster if she wanted to share her lunch. "I declined because she wasn't able to tell me for sure if that pan she cooked the chicken in was used to cook pork before," explained the Redditor: "So she said, 'So you follow Kosher to the letter huh?', and I replied 'Actually it's Halal for me.' She was obviously confused, then when she grasped the situation, she became cold on the spot."

"I am sad to say this, but I am used to that reaction. In my mind all I heard was 'another one bites the dust' and moved on with my life," said randoooo9876.

The Redditor said after the interaction, L became very hostile toward her. She explained that when she saw her within hearing distance she would begin making Islamophobic comments, following her around the office, and refusing to spend time with co-workers if she would be there.

"It was making me and everyone else very uncomfortable," explained the poster. "The last straw was Thursday, I was going for a coffee run and didn't want to take my bag with me. Well, she threw a fit, said that either I take my bag or she will call for security and ask them to go through it. When I asked what she meant by that, she told me God knows what I have in it, my 'people' are not exactly known for harmless bags."

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), state and local fair employment practices agencies documented a significant increase in the number of charges alleging workplace discrimination based on religion and/or national origin since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In response to this, the EEOC published a selection of detailed information on its website to support those who may suffer workplace discrimination of this type.

The EEOC says: "Racial and/or ethnic epithets and general workplace hostility can amount to unlawful harassment. While many employees feel powerless in this situation, the important thing to remember is that you have options."

The poster explained that everyone in the office was shocked by L 's comment about the bag.

"I just went to HR directly and reported her," said the poster. "A couple [of] coworkers did too. She was called in Friday, then I was too, and I said that I can no longer work in the same space as her."

Following the HR investigation, the poster received an email to say that L would be transferred to another department.

"I felt relieved," she said: "But my mom said that I know better than to do that, that I should have dealt with it without impacting her livelihood. So AITA [Am I the a**hole]?"

Reddit users were quick to rush and praise the woman for her actions. One commenter wrote: "Not the a**hole at all! You didn't affect her livelihood, her racist and Islamophobic behavior affected her livelihood."

"They should have actually fired her," said another reply.

One commenter said: "Wow I was actually shocked about what she said about the bag thing. People actually think that huh? Damn," before the poster replied and said: "Imagine how I felt. I met my share of racist and Islamophobic people, but never someone as blatant as this woman."

Newsweek has reached out to u/randoooo9876 for comment. We are unable to verify the details of this case.

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