CHICAGO (AFP) — Four African American police officers in Texas have filed a discrimination lawsuit for the right to wear beards on the job, court records showed, saying they suffer from a skin condition primarily affecting black men.
The suit was launched in response to a Houston Police Department clean-shave policy implemented because officials say facial hair prevents gas masks from sealing properly.
The four officers said they passed a gas mask test, but were nonetheless reassigned to desk jobs because they were black.
"White officers have not been taken out of uniform," the complaint said.
The men said they suffer from a skin condition which is common among men of African descent, in which the shaving inflames and causes beard hairs to become ingrown.
"When they took us out of uniform and told us we couldn't work second jobs in uniform, that meant that we had to take a financial hit that most officers would not take,"Sgt. Shelby Stewart, a 26-year veteran who was reassigned to the department's jail division told the Houston Chronicle.
"We made decisions that we had to make based on civil rights and how we feel about African-American males maintaining these rights because if we did not fight for this, this would be over."
A police department lawyer insisted that the policy was not discriminatory, but said it would be modified to accommodate officers with skin conditions.
One option could be "escape" masks that could be worn over beards, Craig Ferrell told the Chronicle.
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