Four Black firefighters with a skin condition aggravated by shaving lack disability bias claims over the New York Fire Department’s denial of their requests to wear short beards because allowing them to do so would violate OSHA policy governing the fit of respirators, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.
The ruling reverses a lower court, which found in January 2020 that Salik Bey, Terrel Joseph, Steven Seymour, and Clyde Phillips were entitled to an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The firefighters said they have pseudofolliculitis barbae. PFB is a condition that predominantly affects Black men and is exacerbated by ...