Catherwood LibraryILR School

After being prohibited from wearing the head scarf required by her religion, a female Muslim deputy sheriff recently filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the Cook County, Illinois sheriff?s office alleging that her rights under the First Amendment and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act had been violated. The sheriff?s department has defended its decision on the grounds that granting exceptions to a department policy against wearing non-uniform clothing while on duty would open the door to further such requests and would jeopardize the department?s discipline and public perceptions of equality before the law. Confronted with its past practice of allowing officers of other religions to wear religious clothing on duty, the department responded yesterday by revoking the police powers of an Orthodox Jewish deputy who refused to remove the skull-cap his supervisors had permitted and encouraged him to wear for the past two years.