The city had allowed close-cut beards in 2015 to help firefighters with a common skin condition called PFB, but reversed course the next year.
Thirty firefighters initially sued, saying they should be allowed to have close-trimmed beards that would be enough to avoid skin inflammation but wouldn’t harm the fit of oxygen masks their jobs require in emergency settings.
In a 17-page order reviewing the case, Schlesinger concluded that the plaintiffs, whose numbers had shrunk, were asking for something that would violate rules of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. “[T]he city is compelled to comply with OSHA regulations because state law specifically adopts the federal regulations at issue,” the judge wrote. “Adopting Plaintiffs’ proposed accommodation would cause the city to violate state law.”
The firefighters had argued the trimmed-bear standard they wanted counted as a “reasonable accommodation” for PFB under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the ask “is not reasonable within the meaning of the ADA because it is specifically prohibited by a by a binding regulation,” Schlesinger concluded.
“The federal regulations do not allow for individual consideration of facial hair,” the judge wrote. “…[I]t prohibits all facial hair. There is no mechanism for the city to deviate.”
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