Friday, September 04, 2020
A McDonald’s franchisee will pay $69,000 in settling a lawsuit over a Jewish man’s beard
Telling an observant Jewish man applying for a job that he had to shave his beard will cost an owner of 11 Orlando-area McDonald's franchise stores $69,555 as part of settling a religious discrimination lawsuit.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit against Chalfont & Associates in 2019 on behalf of Morteza Javadi. Chalfont will pay Javadi $69,555 and promises to not exclude applicants because of religious beliefs or practices, including not shaving beards.
According to the EEOC lawsuit, Javadi applied online for a maintenance job in 2016 at the 900 State Rd. store in Longwood. During the in-person interview, Javadi was told he would have to shave his beard to comply with Chalfont's "completely clean shaven" policy for employees.
Javadi is a Hasidic Jewish man. Orthodox observers typically comply with Leviticus 19:27: "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard."
The manager, the lawsuit said, rejected Javadi's offer to wear a beard net, citing Chalfont policy and Florida law. Florida law didn't address beards or beard nets for maintenance workers.
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