Friday August 21, 2015
The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed an employment-discrimination complaint over the Columbus Police Division’s refusal to allow female officers to wear head scarves.
“We believe that the Ohio Constitution and Ohio civil-rights laws do allow people to express their faith, even if they’re employees of the government,” said Romin Iqbal, CAIR-Ohio’s staff attorney.The complaint was filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on Thursday.
The city’s ban discriminates against religious Muslim women who want to join the Columbus police force, Iqbal said. It also violates an Ohio law that requires employers to “provide reasonable accommodation for sincerely held religious beliefs of employees and prospective employees,” he said.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman said last week that he supports Police Chief Kim Jacobs’ decision to not allow officers to wear head scarves, or hijabs.
Police officials said in June that they would keep the prohibition because they want the division to be viewed as a nonpolitical, nonreligious organization, and the uniform should reflect that neutrality. Officials also said the scarves could pose safety problems and could be used to try to choke an officer.
“When officers go out into the community, they should be identified as Columbus police officers, not Muslim police officers, not Christian police officers, not Jewish police officers, not Hindus, Baptists or anything else,” Coleman told The Dispatch.
That comment is particularly disturbing, Iqbal said, because it leads people to believe that the city is unwilling to make any accommodations for anyone of any faith. Iqbal said he tried to contact Coleman but never received a response.
Joshua Cox, chief counsel in the city attorney’s office, wouldn’t comment on CAIR’s complaint, saying the city had not yet reviewed it.
Coleman had asked safety officials to re-examine the city’s policy after The Dispatch wrote a story in April about Ismahan Isse, a Somali-American woman who left the police academy in March because of the head-scarf ban. Isse has said she would like to return to the academy, but her head covering is an important part of her religion and identity.
Columbus officials point to a 2007 federal ruling in Philadelphia that said the city’s police department did not violate the civil rights of a Muslim officer when it forbade her to wear a head scarf. The judge said that “prohibiting religious symbols and attire helps to prevent any divisiveness on the basis of religion both within the force itself and when it encounters the diverse population of Philadelphia.”
But Iqbal and legal experts say the religion clause of the Ohio Constitution provides more protection than the equivalent U.S. amendment. They point to a 2000 case involving a prison guard who worked at Hocking Correctional Facility in Nelsonville.
In that case, Wendell Humphrey, a Shoshone-Bannock Indian, wanted to keep his hair long in accordance with his religious beliefs. State prison officials told him he had to cut it to collar length, or shorter, or be fired.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in his favor in May 2000. The court agreed that the state has a compelling interest in establishing a grooming policy for its guards because of the dangerous nature of the job. But it said the state didn’t prove that forcing Humphrey to cut his hair was the least-restrictive way of furthering that interest.
The religious-freedom issue has been a hot topic in law-enforcement agencies worldwide, with cities around the globe making accommodations — and not just for Muslims.
The St. Paul Police Department in Minnesota hired its first Somali-American female officer a year ago. The Edmonton, Alberta, police department in Canada has designed a uniform that includes a hijab that snaps off if grabbed. In Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, the sheriff said in February that a Sikh officer would be allowed to wear his faith’s traditional turban and beard.
Columbus’ continued resistance is perplexing, said an officer of the Somali-American Police Association in Minneapolis.
“It’s very surprising, especially since Columbus has the second-largest Somali population in the United States,” said Salah Ahmed, the group’s vice chairman and an officer with the Metro Transit Police Department in Minneapolis. “It’s not going to help relationships between police and the Somali community. That’s for sure.”