NYS Bans Clothing-, Facial Hair-Based Discrimination [POLL]

A bill that protects employees from discrimination based on religious attire or facial hair was signed into law Friday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The new law amends the New York State Human Rights Law to make clear that employers cannot refuse "to hire, attain, promote or take other discriminatory action against an individual for wearing attire or facial hair in accordance with tenets of their religion," according to a press release from the governor's office.

"As New Yorkers, we celebrate our diversity and we champion freedom of expression in all places, including the workplace," Cuomo said in a prepared statement.

"This law will protect people from discriminatory employment practices based on religious attire or facial hair and makes it crystal clear to anyone who may still have doubts that New York has zero tolerance for bigotry of any kind," he said.

An example for the need for the bill was the case of an MTA employee who is a member of the Sikh religion. In 2004, Kevin Harrington, a now-retired subway operator, was ordered to remove his turban or brand it with an MTA logo, according to the New York Daily News.

Harrington sued the MTA and won.

The bill has been introduced for a number of years but failed to pass both Senate and the Assembly Democrats took over both houses.

Nikki Singh, the policy and advocacy manager for the Sikh Coalition, cheered the passage of the legislation.

"No New Yorker should ever have to make the unthinkable choice between their faith and career," she said, according to HuffPost.

There is a caveat in the legislation, however.

The employer can make demands concerning attire or facial hair if it is "unable to reasonably accommodate the employee's or prospective employee's sincerely held religious observance or practice without undue hardship on the conduct of the employer's business," according to Section 1 of Senate bill S4037.

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