Owner pledges to ensure all staff are made aware of religious exemption to ‘no-hats’ rule On December 1, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) received a formal apology from the Richbrau Brewing Co. restaurant in Richmond, VA for denying Mr. Hansdip Singh Bindra entry to the restaurant with his turban. On November 24, 2006, Mr. Bindra, a member of the Sikh faith, sought entry to the popular restaurant in Richmond with members of his extended family. Mr. Bindra was denied entry due to the restaurant’s “no hats” policy. Mr. Bindra attempted to explain that he was not wearing a “hat,” but rather a turban, a mandated religious article of faith for Sikhs. “There were all sorts of people there, and yet I was being singled out solely because of the way I looked”, said Bindra. “I wear a turban everyday as a Sikh, it’s who I am.” In the apology letter addressed to Mr. Bindra, Michael Byrne, Director of Operations at the Richbrau restaurant noted: “It is with this letter that I would like to extend to you an apology for our doorman enforcing the “no headgear policy” literally.” Mr. Byrne continued, “I have contacted the Richmond media and reaffirmed our policy of the traditional headgear policy exception to our staff. I trust you will feel welcome on your next visit to Richbrau Brewing Co.” After being contacted by Mr. Bindra late on November 25, 2006, SALDEF immediately wrote a letter to Mr. Byrne explaining that, “[a] policy allowing for religious accommodation would not permit patrons to circumvent the policy by claiming religious significance for baseball caps, bandanas and other such articles of clothing. A Sikh turban, a Jewish Yarmulke, and a Muslim hijab are all federally protected religious articles of faith and, as such, are allowed to be worn by individuals in all circumstances.” “I knew I could count on SALDEF’s staff to ensure the ‘no-hats’ policy was corrected to provide an exception for the Sikh turban,” said Bindra. “I am proud to have worked with such a great organization, and am satisfied with the formal written apology.” SALDEF thanks Hansdip Singh Bindra for his courage in aggressively addressing this discriminatory incident by contacting SALDEF. SALDEF would also like to applaud Mr. Michael Byrnes for amending Richbrau’s “no hat’s” policy to allow for exemptions for religious head coverings and taking appropriate steps to ensure employees are informed and well versed with the correct application of the policy.. “The successful resolution of this issue demonstrates that we can leverage our years of experience of protecting the civil rights of Sikh Americans and our expertise in using the media to achieve our desired outcome,” said SALDEF Managing Director Kavneet Singh. “There continues to be a problem of under-reporting of civil rights violations in the Sikh American community, and we encourage Sikh Americans to inform law enforcement and SALDEF about all of these incidents to ensure they are properly recorded and handled.” Media coverage about this case can be viewed at: Richmond Brewpub shuts out turban wearer, Richmond Times (Link no longer available) NBC 12 news report and interview (Link no longer available) To read about a prior unfortunate incident of harassment that Mr. Bindra endured, please visit: Delta Airlines Reaches Agreement with Sikh American Alleging Harassment, Profiling (Link no longer available) First civil rights lawsuit by American Sikh against airline since 9/11 If you or anyone you know has been affected by discrimination in your local area, please contact SALDEF immediately at 202-393-2700 or info@saldef.org.
