Walt Disney World Sikh Employee Gurdit Singh Wins Religious Freedom Fight

Gurdit Singh, who wears the turban and beard for religious reasons, has alleged that he was forced to work a postal route that kept him out of view of Disney tourists. Earlier in 2015, the Sikh Coalition partnered with the ACLU and sent a “forceful demand letter” to Disney explaining that its treatment of Singh violated the law.

In May, lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and The Sikh Coalition expressed their concerns to Disney that the mailman was only delivering mail on one route, as opposed to rotating through assignments like the other members of his team.

Raur told CNNMoney on Friday that her client had been segregated from the public for nearly seven years, which had caused him to have a greater workload and created tension among his co-workers.

According to the letter, Mr. Singh is an adherent of the Sikh faith, the world’s fifth largest organized religion.

A Sikh American deliveryman who claimed his routes at Walt Disney World were restricted so visitors wouldn’t see his turban and unshaved beard has won the right to have the same routes as other delivery workers.

Disney denies that it discriminates based on religion and now says that Mr Singh can deliver post on all of the theme park’s routes, in view of customers.

Segregation of employees based on race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion is a pernicious practice.

In 2012, Disney changed its policy to allow beards no longer than a quarter-inch long. And Mr Singh’s lawyers said that he was kept away from visitors and other staff because of this. But Singh’s saga needn’t be kind to the plight of his fellow mailmen, since the Sikh employee was deprived of a rotation between more and less taxing work and, above all, had his chances of professional advancement precluded. “Beyond that for him personally, it just felt like he was being singled out and he felt humiliated just because of his religious appearance”.

“I am grateful to the Sikh Coalition and the ACLU for demanding that Walt Disney World give me back my dignity and basic rights to practice my faith freely in the workplace”, said Gurdit Singh. Attorney Gurjot Kaur said the change may usher in additional changes for others of the Sikh faith.

Doing so is meant to be a reminder of a “commitment to Sikh values, including spirituality, service, integrity, universal equality, and justice”.