By Dave Warner
PHILADELPHIA, March 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. government sued
Philadelphia’s school district for religious discrimination on
Wednesday for demanding that a veteran Muslim police officer
trim his beard.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by the Department of
Justice, said the nation’s eighth-largest school district passed
a grooming policy in 2010 that mandated beards on police and
security officers be no longer than one-quarter of an inch (6.35
mm).
The officer in question, Siddiq Abu-Bakr, keeps an untrimmed
beard longer than one-quarter of an inch in adherence to his
Islamic faith, the suit said.
Grooming policies that conflict with religious practice have
been an issue in institutions in other parts of the country.
The Pentagon decided in January to ease rules on beards and
turbans in the U.S. Army.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether prison
officials in Arkansas may prohibit inmates from growing beards
in accordance with their religious beliefs.
In the Philadelphia case, Abu-Bakr has maintained an
untrimmed beard for his 27 years with the district “without
evidence that the maintenance of an uncut beard has interfered
with his job performance,” a Justice Department statement said.
The statement said that when Abu-Bakr told his supervisor
that he could not cut his beard because of his beliefs, he was
issued a written reprimand.
Abu-Bakr, who is still with the district, filed a charge of
religious discrimination with the federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission.
The government’s lawsuit is seeking an injunction that would
force the district to develop new, non-discriminatory grooming
policies. It also seeks unspecified damages.
A representative for the school district was not immediately
available for comment. The district employs 16,827 people.
(Reporting by Dave Warner; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Ken
Wills)
