17 Black firefighters sue DC Fire Department over facial hair ban, alleging discrimination

Written in association with FOX 5 DC, read the article here.

WASHINGTON - Seventeen African American firefighters have filed a lawsuit against the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (DCFEMS), alleging the agency discriminated against them by enforcing a clean-shaven policy that ignored medical conditions and religious practices.

The lawsuit follows an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finding that DCFEMS discriminated against the men. According to their attorneys, the department violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by refusing to grant reasonable accommodations.

The plaintiffs include firefighters who have either Pseudofolliculitis barbae — a skin condition that disproportionately affects Black men and can cause pain when shaving — or religious obligations to maintain facial hair.

 Before the policy was implemented in 2020, many performed their duties with beards and passed annual safety "fit tests" to ensure masks could form a proper seal.

 "It felt like DCFEMS was forcing me to choose between my career or my health," said Durell Herman, a firefighter of nearly two decades who has PFB. "Being sidelined, not for something I did wrong, but for a medical condition I can’t control, was devastating," he said in the press release announcing the suit.

 Another plaintiff, Khalid Bullock, said he was reassigned after he requested a religious accommodation.

 "They pulled me out of all firefighter and EMS duties for almost two years. The schedule was brutal, and it took me away from my kids," Bullock said. "I wasn’t being punished for poor performance. I was being punished for my beliefs."

 In 2021, DCFEMS updated the policy to permit some facial hair, but the revisions still did not accommodate firefighters with severe PFB or religious requirements, according to the press release.

 Shannon Leary, a partner at Gilbert Employment Law, which is representing the firefighters, said the department failed to account for their rights and their years of service.

 "At every turn DCFEMS seemed determined to make life harder for these men after they asserted their rights against this thoughtless policy," Leary said. "They asked for nothing more than to keep doing the jobs they were trained and qualified to do."