DC Fire and EMS employees file legal challenge over facial hair requirement

WASHINGTON - Several firefighters in D.C. are taking the District to court over a policy that requires them to shave their facial hair.

The four D.C. Fire and EMS employees told a federal judge on Monday that the city is violating their religious rights by requiring them to shave their facial hair. According to a court filing, each of the four men taking part in the suit, wear a beard in accordance with the tenets of their Muslim or Jewish faiths.

The court filing is challenging a policy from D.C. Fire and EMS that requires employees to shave their facial hair if it interferes with a face mask or mask seal.

In 2007, a federal judge ordered the District to allow the employees to keep their beards, so long as it is part of their religious expression.

Despite that, in 2020, the city started enforcing a new but similar policy at the outset of the pandemic. At the time, the Fire and EMS said there was an increased need for face masks, including N-95s.

All four plaintiffs say they were told they could not assume their regular duties when they showed up to work with facial hair, according to the court filing. Instead, they were forced to work in office positions.

The city employees claim that they earned less money during the reassignment period and that they had fewer opportunities for overtime and holiday pay.

The court filing calls for the District to be held in contempt for violating the 2007 order.

FOX 5 reached out the D.C. Attorney General's Office, but they declined to comment.