Image: Wikimedia Commons
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office denies that a Muslim detention officer was discriminated against because of his beard, citing Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules that require a clean shave with face masks.
The office's response runs counter to what is claimed in the lawsuit filed today by Bosnian immigrant Sinan Fazlovic (with the help of the ACLU). The lawsuit states:
The primary occupational safety agency in the country ("OSHA"), opined
Sinan Fazlovic, a Bosnian Muslim who moved to the United States in 1999, thought he had an understanding about his long beard when he was hired in 2005 as a jail guard for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the job, he says in a lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.
Without one negative word about his prolific facial hair, the sheriff's office hired him, the lawsuit says. He reported to Detention Officer Academy on July 1
