Federal Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of D.C. Firefighters With Beards

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Federal Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of D.C. Firefighters With Beards

Posted: 03-10-2009

DAVE STATTER

Courtesy WUSA 9

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Victory for a group of firefighters and paramedics with the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department in the fight to retain facial hair. The decision came Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/a...mp;sectionId=46

[Guest]

If DC had just decided to abide by OSHA, they could have saved themselves a lot of legal fees...

[abaduck 123]

I don't understand this. OSHA mandates that masks must fit; that's the law. So has the court just told the FD to break the law? It seems the only policy they can adopt is 'ok, facial hair is allowed - so long as you can still get a seal, per. OSHA regs. If you can't get a seal, you have to shave until you can get a seal, or you're off the department'.

Or are they saying that religious freedom is absolute, and the FD must somehow find or invent some kind of mask that will allow an OSHA-compliant seal, even with a full beard? What do they expect the guys to be issued with? Space helmets?!

(I had a full beard for many many years; it came off the day I joined the department and I've never missed it. My wife is another story; she had never seen me clean-shaven in all the years we had been together!!)