DOJ FILES SUIT AGAINST PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against the School District of Philadelphia for Religious Discrimination

The Department of Justice announced the filing of a lawsuit today against the School District of Philadelphia alleging that the district discriminated against Siddiq Abu-Bakr, as well as other similarly-situated individuals, on the basis of religion in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  The lawsuit further alleges that the district’s employment policies constitute a pattern or practice of religious discrimination, also in violation of Title VII.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleges that the district discriminated against Abu-Bakr and similarly-situated individuals by failing to accommodate their religious beliefs after it instituted a new grooming policy in October 2010 that prevented school police officers and security officers from having beards longer than one-quarter inch.  Abu-Bakr, a school police officer since 1987, is a member of the Islamic faith, which requires him not to cut his beard.  Consistent with his religious beliefs, Abu-Bakr has maintained an untrimmed beard longer than one-quarter inch for the 27 years that he has worked for the district, without evidence that the maintenance of an uncut beard has interfered with his job performance.  When Abu-Bakr notified his supervisor that he could not comply with the new grooming policy due to his religious beliefs, Abu-Bakr was issued a written reprimand for violating the policy.  According to the complaint, the district failed to consider Abu-Bakr’s request for reasonable accommodation to its grooming policy that would have been in accordance with his religious beliefs, and later denied his request without making the requisite showing that doing so would cause an undue hardship.

Through this lawsuit, the United States is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief requiring the district to develop and implement new grooming policies that would prevent its employees from being discriminated against based upon religion, as well as monetary damages for Abu-Bakr and similarly-situated individuals.

“Individuals should not have to choose between maintaining their jobs and practicing their faith when accommodations can be reasonably made,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Jocelyn Samuels.  “Federal law requires all employers, even those with grooming and uniform policies, to reasonably accommodate the religious observances and practices of their employees.”

Abu-Bakr originally filed a charge of religious discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  The EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office investigated the matter, determined that there was reasonable cause to believe that discrimination had occurred, and referred the matter to the Department of Justice.

“No employee should be forced to violate his religious beliefs in order to earn a living,” said District Director Spencer H. Lewis Jr. of the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office.  “Modifying a dress or grooming code is a reasonable accommodation that enables employees to keep working without posing an undue hardship on the employer.  We are pleased that the EEOC's collaboration with the Department of Justice protects public employees from religious discrimination.”

The continued enforcement of Title VII is a priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

JUSTICE DEPT. SETTLES RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST NEW YORK TRANSIT AUTHORITY

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Justice Department Settles Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Against New York City Transit Authority
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement with the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) to resolve allegations that the NYCTA is engaged in a pattern or practice of religious discrimination.

The Justice Department filed its complaint in September 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.   The complaint alleged that the NYCTA violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by selectively enforcing its uniform headwear policies against employees who are unable to comply for religious reasons and by failing or refusing to reasonably accommodate those employees whose religious practices require an accommodation from the NYCTA’s uniform headwear policies.   Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion.
According to the Justice Department’s complaint, the NYCTA had not enforced its uniform headwear policies prior to Sept. 11, 2001.   However, beginning in or about March 2002, the NYCTA began to selectively enforce those policies against Muslim and Sikh employees, moving them or threatening to move them out of public contact positions because the employees, consistent with their sincerely held religious beliefs, refused to attach NYCTA logos to their khimars and turbans, respectively.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, which must still be approved by the court, the NYCTA must:   (1) adopt new uniform headwear policies, which would allow employees working in public contact positions to wear khimars, yarmulkes, turbans, kufis, skullcaps, tams and headscarves without attaching anything to the headwear; (2) implement and distribute a new religious accommodation policy consistent with Title VII’s requirement to reasonably accommodate the religious practices of all employees and prospective workers; and   (3) provide guidance to and ensure that training is completed by the NYCTA personnel responsible for implementing the agency’s new religious accommodation policy and procedure.  Additionally, the NYCTA will pay $184,500, divided among eight current and former NYCTA employees who were denied religious accommodations related to the NYCTA’s prior uniform headwear policies.

“This settlement agreement sends a clear message that the Department of Justice will not tolerate religious discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.   “I am pleased that the NYCTA has agreed to end its discriminatory practices that for years have forced employees to choose between practicing their religion and maintaining their jobs.”