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New York City Transit Authority settles religious headwear dispute with DOJ

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New York City Transit Authority settles religious headwear dispute with DOJ

NEW YORK—The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a $184,500 settlement with the New York City Transit Authority over charges it engaged in religious discrimination with respect to workers' headwear.

The Justice Department complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn in 2004, charged the transit authority had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by refusing to reasonably accommodate employees whose religious practices required an accommodation from its uniform headwear policies.

In its complaint, the Justice Department said the transit authority began to selectively enforce its policies against Muslim and Sikh employees in March 2002, moving them or threatening to move them out of public-contact positions because they refused to attach NYCTA logos to their khimars and turbans, respectively.

Under terms of the settlement agreement, announced Wednesday, which still needs court approval, the transit authority must adopt new uniform headgear policies that permit religious headwear without attaching anything to it; implement and distribute a new religious accommodation policy; and provide guidance to, and ensure that training is completed by, personnel responsible for implementing the policy.

The $184,500 will be divided among eight current and former transit authority employees who were denied religious accommodations under the prior uniform headwear policies, according to the DOJ.

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Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, said in a statement, “This settlement agreement sends a clear message that the Department of Justice will not tolerate religious discrimination.

“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.”

In a statement, the transit authority said, “The settlement contains no finding of fault or liability. It agrees to modify the headwear portion of the (New York City Transit) uniform policy to permit employees in those titles to wear turbans, headscarves and certain other forms of headwear that do not contain the standard NYCT-issued logo, but are in the standard NYCT blue color.

“In addition, under the settlement, NYCT is clarifying the current procedures by which employees may apply for certain kinds of religious accommodations.”

The statement says the transit authority “believed it had offered reasonable accommodations to its headwear policy to its employees. The existing policy, which was in place long before these lawsuits were filed, was never animated by religious or ethnic bias.

“The settlement, including the modification to the policy, resolves this longstanding litigation, and the related lawsuits of eight present or former employees, in a manner that preserved the fundamental elements of Transit Authority uniform policies,” the statement said.