Saturday, July 16 2005 11:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: A number of Sikh transit employees in New York filed discrimination charges yesterday (July 15, 2005) over a policy requiring them to display company logos on their turbans.

One case involved a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Kevin Harrington, a Sikh subway train operator who has been forced to wear a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) logo on his turban since January.

Five Sikh station agents, meanwhile, filed formal complaints on the same issue with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The employees charge that the head wear logo policy introduced after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, amounts to discrimination.

"The MTA honoured me for driving my train in reverse away from the towers on 9/11 and leading passengers to safety. They called me a 'hero of 9/11,' Harrington said.

"I didn't have a corporate logo on my turban then. Why am I being threatened with reassignment in a rail yard unless I wear one now?" he asked.

A spokesman for New York City Transit declined to comment on the pending lawsuit, but confirmed that current policy allowed for only MTA-approved headwear.

"Sikhs are allowed to wear their turbans, but they must have the logo," the spokeswoman said.

The Harrington lawsuit as fled on his behalf by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Sikh Coalition, an organisation founded in the wake of the September 11 attacks to educate Americans about Sikhism.