Shuttle diplomacy lacking for Sikh driver

Another incident of an employer refusing to take on a turban-wearing Sikh because his appearance would not conform to grooming policy has arisen in the US – in Indiana, where a firm providing airport shuttle services finds itself in the legal limelight.

Inderjit Singh, 51, of Greenwood, Indiana, is suing Air Serv Corp, which provides airport bus services across the country, claiming it refused his application for a job as a driver because of his religion. Mr Singh says he is also suing because he does not want his son to face a similar situation in the future.

His lawyers have told the US District Court Mr Singh would not work without his turban and his beard.

The suit alleges violations of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits discrimination based on race, religion and other factors. It asks for back pay for the two years since his application, plus punitive damages.

A US citizen, Mr  Singh has not cut his hair since birth, has covered it since he was a young boy and has worn a turban since he was 14.  Although he earned a college degree in his native India, he could not find white-collar work when he moved to the US in 1997. He worked as a gas station attendant, toll collector and parking lot cashier in Virginia, where he, his wife, two children and elderly parents lived before moving to Indianapolis about three years ago.

Mr Singh applied for the shuttle driver’s job  in late 2007. At that time, the position paid $9.90 an hour.

His attorneys at California-based Public Justice said Air Serv Corp turned him down even though he had passed passed a drugs test and background check and the firm understood the turban and beard were central to his faith.

His local attorney Kimberly D Jeselskis said Mr Singh had worked without a problem in similar jobs at Dulles International Airport when he worked in Washington.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found that Mr Singh was denied employment because Air Serv Corp was unwilling to accommodate his need to wear a turban and beard.

Mr Singh said he was taking legal action because “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else, and I don’t want my son to face discrimination in the future because of his own turban and beard.”

His son T.J. Singh, a student at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, said: “My father is a hardworking American citizen who just wants to support his family. Nothing about my dad’s beard and turban would have interfered with being a shuttle bus driver.”

An Indianapolis International Airport spokesperson said the airport management was not involved in contractors’ hiring decisions.