FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)For the better part of 17 years, Elimelich Goldstein, 41, would spend his Saturday nights at the Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company (PVFC).
As an emergency medical technician-paramedic, he responded to innumerable calls, treating people and fighting for their lives. Now, he and two other Orthodox medics believe they are fighting for their civil rights.
They have filed discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that the PVFC has “illegally barred them from riding on calls,” in violation of their religious rights and in retaliation for their involvement with Hatzalah, a predominantly Orthodox all-volunteer medical response organization covering the same areas of Pikesville as PVFC, as well as Upper Park Heights.
“I have no comment,” said longtime PVFC first vice-president Lee Sachs, who is also the organization’s legal counsel. “It’s a big shock to me.”
Thomas Barrett, the PVFC’s president, via e-mail told membership that “accordingly for the time, we will have no comment about the matter.”
Dr. Goldstein, who professionally is a physician assistant and has a doctorate in health sciences, is joined by Avi Gross and Avraham Green in the suit.
The three men, according to an American Civil Liberties Union media release, say they were told last winter that because they have beards, they could not ride with the company as medics.
Dr. Goldstein, who teaches life saving classes in the area, said that the volunteer fire company claimed his beard would prevent him from wearing specialized safety masks needed in a fire.
As an paramedic, however, Dr. Goldstein said his job is not to enter a burning structure but to wait outside to treat victims.
He said he is more convinced that the fire company revoked his ability to ride on calls because it saw his and Mr. Gross’s involvement with Hatzalah as a conflict.
The medics are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Baltimore firm of Hogan & Hartson, which is working pro bono.
“Sadly, we cannot help but conclude that the no-beard rule is nothing more than a way to get rid of us – jut a pretext for discrimination against Orthodox Jews,” said Dr. Goldstein.
Dr. Goldstein said that it was shortly after PVFC learned of his Hatzalah involvement that they were told they could no longer respond to medic calls because of their beards.
“What a shame to have a service organization like this fighting religious turf wars, and using suspect safety concerns to turn away dedicated medics who are simply trying to serve their community in a way consistent with their religious beliefs,” said ACLU Maryland Legal Director Deborah Jeon.
Dr. Goldstein has had a beard during his entire membership time with PVFC. He was named EMS provider of the year in 2003.
“I teach many of their courses,” he said. “I’ve been there one night a year pretty consistently for 17 years, sleeping away from home to provide emergency care for the people of Pikesville.”
It was in January that he said he received a call informing him that he could no longer ride with the medic unit, because of his beard.
There is a breathing mask called a self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) that is typically worn by fire fighters, but not by medics. Dr. Goldstein said that facial hair can impinge on the mask’s seal. However, there is an alternative safety mask available for those with beards.
“I was told initially that they would look into buying these masks, but then I was told that they might not purchase them,” said Dr. Goldstein. “This is when I knew that this wasn’t about my beard, this was about something else. Things just started not to add up. I knew they weren’t fond of Hatzalah. The only thing that changed over the years was not my beard, but my involvement in Hatzalah. It’s pure discrimination. It personally hurts, to have such a level of dedication and being prevented from continuing.”
Dr. Goldstein said that many of the PVFC members are Jewish, including Orthodox. One officer is 3rd EMS Lt. Andrea Lavine, the first-ever unanimously elected Orthodox female EMS officer elected in the history of the Baltimore County Volunteer Firemen’s Association.
“They should know better,” Dr. Goldstein said. “They should have a greater level of tolerance.”
The suit has precedent. In Sept. 2007, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled illegal a requirement that firefighters there be clean-shaven.
At the time, the presiding judge ruled that the district did not show that being clean-shaven is required to safely wear a SBCA. A group of Muslim firefighters who wear beards for religious reasons for sued in 2001 to challenge the fire department’s “grooming policy.”