Caribbean Rastafarian Employee Discrimination Claim

The U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”) announced in an August 7, 2009 Press Release that a New York partnership has agreed to settle a religious and national origin discrimination lawsuit filed by EEOC attorneys on behalf of four public safety officers who alleged employment discrimination based upon their Rastafarian religion and Caribbean national origins, including Jamaican, Haitian and Trinidadian.  See, http://www.eeoc.gov/press/8-7-09.html .  According to the EEOC Press Release, the company failed to grant the employees’ requests for religious accommodation to the company’s grooming policy, which provided that employees must not wear their hair outside their uniform hats.  As stated in the Press Release, the officers maintain long dreadlocks and short beards in line with their Rastafarian religious faith and three of the officers allegedly faced suspensions for violating the grooming policy.  An EEOC attorney quoted in the Press Release said that “Employers are obligated to explore how they may accommodate employees’ or applicants’ religious beliefs.”  Further information about the EEOC is available in the agency’s website at www.eeoc.gov .