The Muslim News

PHILADELPHIA, Associated Press: A Muslim firefighter cannot wear a beard on the job because of the safety risk that facial hair poses, a judge ruled yesterday.

Curtis De Veaux sued the city on grounds that the ban infringed on his Muslim faith, which generally requires men to grow beards. But the state judge sided with the city, calling safety a compelling interest that warrants an exception under the Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Protection Act.

The city had argued that beards interfere with the tight seal firefighters need on their respiratory masks, which deliver oxygen and keep out dangerous toxins.

The American Civil Liberties Union's local chapter, which represented De Veaux, plans to appeal the ruling to Commonwealth Court, lawyer Mary Catherine Roper said.

De Veaux, 25, sought to be fit-tested with the mask to try to prove the seal over his short beard met safety standards.

Last month, a federal judge ordered officials in Washington, D.C., to fit-test three Muslim firefighters who sued on similar grounds. The ACLU also represents those plaintiffs.

De Veaux argued that the testing was the "least restrictive" way the city could meet tenets of the state's religious freedom act, but Common Pleas Judge James Murray Lynn disagreed.

"Directive 13 (the facial-hair ban) ... is the least restrictive means of furthering its compelling interest in maximizing safety for its members," Lynn wrote in his order.

Anne Barden, an assistant city solicitor, called the decision important.

"I think in view of the safety concerns, it's a very important decision for the city," Barden said yesterday.

No other major U.S. city allows firefighters to wear beards, Barden argued during the non-jury trial this week.

De Veaux, who has been on unpaid leave from the department for about six months, said he makes far less in his new job installing satellite TV systems. He earned more than $50,000 a year as a firefighter.

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