A Muslim cop is fighting the NYPD’s “discriminatory” decision to suspend him for refusing to shave his beard.
Masood Syed, a 10-year NYPD veteran and lawyer who works as a law clerk for the department, was told by his bosses Monday that he had to shave his beard, which he wears between one-half and 1 inch in observance of his Sunni Muslim faith.
While the NYPD maintains a “no beard” policy, facial hair up to 1 millimeter (about four-hundredths of an inch) is the unofficial exception for religious purposes, Syed’s lawyers said in a civil complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday.
Syed, of Whitestone, Queens, previously obtained permission to wear his beard at 1 millimeter and never had a serious problem with his facial hair exceeding that measure until fall 2015.
Since then, Syed has been working to get a religious accommodation letter allowing him to wear his beard at its present length, the lawsuit said. He also claimed many other officers wear beards exceeding 1 millimeter.
The 32-year-old was nevertheless suspended without pay for 30 days and could be fired if he continues refusing to shave his beard, says the suit.
Syed was stripped of his badge and gun and then escorted out of Police Headquarters by two supervising officers, he said.
“It was extremely humiliating,” he said after the hearing. “I felt insulted.”
During an emergency hearing Wednesday, Manhattan Federal Judge Kevin Castel asked city Law Department lawyer Michael Fleming whether the department plans on reinstating Syed after the 30 days.
“It depends on whether or not he is compliant with the requirements,” Fleming said.
Fleming argued the NYPD does not allow beards to exceed a millimeter because it would prevent department-issued gas masks from sealing properly.
Castel overturned the department’s decision to withhold Syed’s pay and barred the NYPD from taking further disciplinary action against him until July 8, when another judge will weigh whether he can return to work as the lawsuit proceeds.
Castel said he found Syed’s arguments had a probability of success.
“I am very relieved at the outcome, very happy with the judge’s decision,” Syed said after the hearing. “I think it was the right decision.”
A Manhattan federal judge ruled in 2013 that the NYPD’s “no beard” policy violated the First Amendment rights of a Hasidic probationary officer fired in June 2012 for refusing to trim his facial hair. The officer, Fishel Litzman, was reinstated in January 2014 and sports his beard at more than a millimeter, Syed said.
Syed alleges the department continues to enforce the policy inconsistently and unconstitutionally, affecting at least 100 officers.
When Castel asked Fleming about the Litzman decision, the city lawyer replied: “It is my understanding that he has different religious beliefs from the plaintiff.”
The Law Department deferred comment to the NYPD, which did not immediately comment. The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association declined to comment.
Syed has faced scrutiny for issues other than his beard. The city in 2010 paid a $250,000 settlement to a panhandler whose cheekbone was broken during a January 2009 altercation with Syed.
The cop was also placed on modified duty and lost 20 vacation days in August 2014 for having his gun stolen out of a backpack in his car, a police source said.