New York to ensure religious freedom for Sikh employees – India

31 aug 2011

New York to ensure religious freedom for Sikh employees

Sikhs in the US will be allowed to wear turbans and grow beards in federal agencies like the police department and transit authority after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today signed into law a bill that will ensure freedom for employees to practice religious beliefs at workplace.

Dr Sanjay Kumar Cardiac Cardiothoracic Heart Surgeon India

The ‘Workplace Religious Freedom’ bill was initiated by civil rights group Sikh Coalition and sponsored by Queens Democrat Council member Mark Weprin.

In signing the law, Bloomberg said employers must make a “reasonable accommodation” for an employee’s religious practices unless following such practices creates an “undue hardship.”

The undue hardship is now defined as requiring “significant expense or difficulty.”

“This bill sends the message that people should not have to choose between serving our city and adhering to their religious beliefs. All Americans should receive the full embrace of our country’s constitutional freedoms,” Weprin said.

Sikh Coalition’s programme director and co-founder Amardeep Singh said the law would ensure that religious minorities like Sikhs and Muslims in the US are not discriminated against by their employers for practising their religion.