Domino's Settles Lawsuit, Drops Beard Ban

BALTIMORE - Domino's Pizza said yesterday it has dropped its long-standing ban on bearded employees, while settling a 12-year-old Maryland lawsuit that accused the company of discriminating against a Sikh whose religion forbids shaving.

Changing American fashions, not conscience, prompted the nation's No. 2 pizza chain to drop its no-beard policy, said Tim McIntyre, vice president for corporate relations.

Michigan-based Domino's eliminated its requirement that employees be clean-shaven because the public has become more accepting of beards, McIntyre said, and because the ban on facial hair was making it hard to attract new employees.

The policy change and the Maryland court settlement are a vindication for Prabhjot Kohli of Catonsville, who waged a legal battle against Domino's after the company refused in 1987 to hire him as a manager trainee unless he shaved his beard.

"I'm really happy," said Kohli, 61. "My contention was you cannot discriminate against a competent person based on religion."

Kohli's Sikh religion forbids him from cutting his hair because Sikhs believe it is a gift from God. Kohli filed a complaint in 1988 with the Maryland Human Relations Commission, saying the company's rejection constituted religious discrimination. The company appealed the commission's initial finding for Kohli, and the case dragged through state courts for years.

Domino's denies that it discriminated. The company argued that its sales would suffer if it relaxed its policy, and it also contended that beards on food handlers could spread illnesses.