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Sikh wins gas mask case as board
rules no need to shave beard
WSN Network
 SACRAMENTO: In a
development that is likely to help restore the Sikh community's
faith in an evolved democracy's capacity to respect human rights of
minorities, the state Personnel Board ruled that the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation discriminated against a
Sikh man from Folsom by insisting he shave off his beard before he
could become a prison guard.
The CDC violated
Trilochan "Obe" Oberoi's right to practice his religion when it told
him he had to shave to pass a gas mask fit test before being hired.
Oberoi, 62, a
former commander in the Indian navy and captain in the Indian
merchant marine, said he was more ready to die than to cut his
beard.
That the
development comes at a time when the SGPC in India is telling a
superior court that one sect of Sikhs can continue cutting the hair
and still remain in the larger Sikh fold is all the more shameful
for those in India managing the religious affairs of the community.
The CDC, which
employs 25,000 correctional officers to manage 152,000 inmates in 33
adult institutions, told Oberoi he must be clean-shaven to ensure a
gas mask would fit properly.
Oberoi migrated
to the US
in 1999 and became a citizen. He's now a cashier at Wal-Mart and an
assistant math teacher at a Rancho Cordova elementary school. He had
applied to become a correctional officer in 2005 and fulfilled
norms regarding physical abilities and vision test etc but when it
came to taking a gas mask fit test, he was told the beard just
cannot stay.
Incidentally,
Oberoi wore gas masks for a Nuclear Biological Chemical Damage
Control course in the Indian navy without incident.
Administrative
Law Judge Gregory Brown noted the CDC has hired correctional
officers who can't shave their beards because of skin conditions.
Since the CDC
allows those employees to use a different gas mask, "it is difficult
to imagine why it cannot extend the same accommodation to CO's who
cannot shave for religious reasons," wrote Brown in his decision
last month.
Brown ordered
the CDC to try to accommodate Oberoi and expedite his application.
Oberoi's lead
trial attorney, Harmeet Dhillon, called the ruling a victory for
religious freedom in
California.
The CDC now has
until Dec. 18 to appeal the ruling.
17
December
2008
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