UPS spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg said the company plans to appeal. UPS, the world's largest package delivery company, has a longstanding policy of accommodating religious beliefs, she said. Mason was offered an alternative job, which he declined, Rosenberg said.
Mason applied in November 2004 for a seasonal job at the UPS facility in Secaucus. He was told his roughly one-inch beard left him ineligible to work directly with customers as a driver's assistant. Instead, he was offered a lower-paying job as a package handler, working in the back of a warehouse, he said.
He filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the suit in 2006.
"Employees should never be hidden from the public in the back room or paid inferior wages simply because they are practicing their religion," said Spencer H. Lewis, district director for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's New York District Office.
Mason, who works as a furniture mover, said he was pleased with the verdict.
"It's going to give other people a chance that I may have not gotten," he said.
Just someone else looking for a quick buck!!!
