By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has settled a lawsuit
filed by a man who was barred from becoming a prison guard because he refused
to shave the beard required by his Sikh religion, officials said Thursday.
Civil rights organizations said the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation's policy amounts to religious discrimination. They say the
state makes exceptions for men with certain medical conditions and should make
similar allowances for Sikhs, Muslims, Orthodox Jews and others whose religion
requires facial hair.
Under the settlement, the state will not change its rules requiring most men
to be free of facial hair so they can be fitted for gas masks. But it is
paying Trilochan Oberoi $295,000 in damages and giving him a $61,000-a-year
job as a manager in the corrections department.
The 63-year-old, who once served in the Indian Navy, has worked at a Walmart
store while he fought a six-year battle to become a guard at Folsom State
Prison east of Sacramento.
The department's policy since 2004 has been that gas masks must fit tightly to
protect correctional officers from tear gas and pepper spray sometimes used to
quell inmate uprisings. However, the policy allows beards up to an inch long
if a doctor verifies that a guard has a skin disorder or irritation.
San Francisco attorney Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, who represented Oberoi on behalf
of the Sikh Coalition, said she is disappointed the state refused to change
its policy but promised to keep fighting such restrictions by both state and
local law enforcement agencies.
"Our community has a long-standing tradition of being involved in law
enforcement and the military," Dhillon said. "It's a matter of pride and
honor, and a lot of Sikhs would be signing up for these jobs if the prejudices
were swept away."
Oberoi felt he had the law on his side, based on several court and
administrative rulings in his favor, she said, but feared he might have lost
at trial in part because people often mistake him and other Sikhs for Muslims
because of their turbans and unshorn beards.
"There's a lot of prejudice against Sikhs after 9/11," Dhillon said. "Who can
say what would happen before a jury?"
Civil rights groups had petitioned Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General
Kamala Harris to change the department's policy. However, Brown's office
declined comment and Harris fought the lawsuit in her capacity as the state's
lawyer representing the corrections department.
Harris spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill wouldn't comment Thursday, referring
questions to the corrections department.
Corrections spokeswoman Dana Toyama said she couldn't comment because the
department is reviewing its regulations to make sure they conform to state
occupational safety and health rules.
Oberoi earns barely more than minimum wage as a Walmart cashier but has no
guarantee of job security at the corrections department, Dhillon said. The
department recently sent out 26,000 layoff warnings as it downsizes under a
new law that shifts responsibility for lower-level criminals to counties.
Dhillon said less than a third of Oberoi's settlement will go to lawyers who
represented him during a four-year fight in court and before the California
State Personnel Board.
Oberoi said he is happy with his new job, where he expects to help develop
rules and policies in the department's Regulation and Policy Management
branch. He said he originally applied for the guard position because he is
familiar with weapons and paramilitary organizations after 26 years in the
Indian Navy, where he rose to the rank of commander, and nine years as a
captain in India's merchant marines.
He came to the United States in 2001.
"In my country I worked for that country," Oberoi said in a telephone
interview. "Now I am a citizen here, so I wanted to work for this country."
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