Plaintiffs allege they were deprived of opportunity, advancement in retaliation for opposing an enforced grooming rule that violates federal civil rights and disability law.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Seventeen African American firefighters today filed a lawsuit against the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (DCFEMS), alleging that by introducing and enforcing a clean-shaven policy the Department discriminated against them on the basis of religion and disability in violation of federal law. The lawsuit comes after the EEOC found that the DCFEMS had indeed discriminated against these employees and issued a Notice of Right to Sue.
The plaintiffs are all career firefighters with years of exemplary service who are unable to fully shave their facial hair for either religious or medical reasons. Some plaintiffs have a medical condition, Pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB), which most-commonly impacts African American men, and causes varying degrees of pain, discomfort, and even infections, when shaving facial hair. Other plaintiffs practice Orthodox Judaism or Islam, in which facial hair carries religious significance.
For years, they all safely performed their duties with beards and passed annual safety “fit tests,” which ensure DCFEMS firefighters can safely wear various masks that require a tight-fitting seal around the face.
That changed in 2020, when DCFEMS implemented Safety Bulletin No. 10, a blanket policy requiring all full-duty firefighters to be clean shaven, despite prior court rulings striking down similar mandates. When these seventeen firefighters requested reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, DCFEMS instead removed them from the field, reassigned them to administrative or EMS-only roles with less opportunity for advancement, and delayed action for nearly two years.
“It felt like DCFEMS was forcing me to choose between my career or my health,” said Durell Herman, a D.C. firefighter who has served for nearly two decades and suffers from PFB. “This isn’t just a career for me, it’s my calling. Being sidelined, not for something I did wrong, but for a medical condition I can’t control, was devastating.”
“They pulled me out of all firefighter and EMS duties for almost two years. The schedule was brutal, and it took me away from my kids,” said Khalid Bullock, a D.C. firefighter with over a decade of service who was reassigned after requesting a religious accommodation. “And even after they let some guys go back to full firefighter duties, they kept me off the truck and put me on endless EMS-only shifts, like I hadn’t earned my place. I wasn’t being punished for poor performance. I was being punished for my beliefs.”
“At every turn DCFEMS seemed determined to make life harder for these men after they asserted their rights against this thoughtless policy.” said Shannon Leary, partner at Gilbert Employment Law and attorney for the plaintiffs. “For years, these men put their lives on the line for D.C. residents. They asked for nothing more than to keep doing the jobs they were trained and qualified to do. Instead, the Department sidelined them, doing a disservice to them and all D.C. residents, while ignoring the religious obligations and medical realities these men have.”
In 2021, DCFEMS revised the policy to allow limited facial hair but remained insufficient for individuals who needed religious accommodation or whose PFB was so severe that they could not shave as closely as the policy required.
The firefighters are represented by Shannon Leary and AJ Hill of Gilbert Employment Law.