US Sikh kept from job over beard settles case

California has settled a lawsuit filed by a man who was barred from becoming a prison guard because he refused to shave the beard required by his Sikh religion, officials said Thursday.

Civil rights organizations said the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's policy amounts to religious discrimination. They say the state makes exceptions for men with certain medical conditions and should make similar allowances for Sikhs, Muslims, Orthodox Jews and others whose religion requires facial hair.

Under the settlement, the state will not change its rules requiring most men to be free of facial hair so they can be fitted for gas masks.

But it is paying Trilochan Oberoi $295,000 in damages and giving him a $61,000-a-year job as a manager in the corrections department.

The 63-year-old Oberoi, who once served in the Indian Navy, has worked at a Walmart store while he fought a six-year battle to become a guard at Folsom State Prison.

The department's policy has been that gas masks must fit tightly to protect correctional officers from tear gas and pepper spray sometimes used to stop inmate uprisings. However, the policy allows beards up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) long if a doctor verifies that a guard has a skin disorder or irritation.

San Francisco attorney Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, who represented Oberoi on behalf of the Sikh Coalition, said she is disappointed the state refused to change its policy but promised to keep fighting such restrictions by both state and local law enforcement agencies.

"Our community has a long-standing tradition of being involved in law enforcement and the military," Dhillon said. "It's a matter of pride and honor, and a lot of Sikhs would be signing up for these jobs if the prejudices were swept away."

Oberoi felt he had the law on his side, based on several court and administrative rulings in his favor, she said, but feared he might have lost in part because people often mistake Sikhs for Muslims because of their turbans and unshorn beards.

"There's a lot of prejudice against Sikhs after 9/11," Dhillon said. "Who can say what would happen before a jury?"