Growing Our Legal Work—With Your Support

Dear Supporter Ji,

My name is Giselle Klapper, and I serve as the Deputy Legal Director of the Sikh Coalition. I wanted to reach out to you to thank you for your prior support of our organization—and ask that you consider donating once again so that we can continue to expand our legal work in support of the sangat.

As you know, the Sikh Coalition works across a wide range of legal issues—from hate crimes to severe school bullying. Another area that is also consistently a part of our portfolio is workplace discrimination. We firmly believe that everyone should be able to practice their faith fearlessly at work, and that no one should be forced to choose between their religious beliefs and their livelihood. 

This year, for example, we made another significant step forward in ensuring that Sikhs across the medical field have access to personal protective equipment (PPE) that works with their articles of faith. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sikh doctors, nurses, dentists, and other medical providers have been ordered or forced to shave their beards to wear certain kinds of masks. It is employers, however, who have the responsibility to meet their employees’ religious and safety needs—and that means providing PPE that keeps Sikhs safe without asking them to sacrifice their faith.

Earlier this year, we and our co-counsel added a second Sikh paramedic client to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) major lawsuit against healthcare company American Medical Response (AMR). Last year, we engaged as co-litigants with the EEOC on behalf of Ravinder Singh, a Sikh paramedic who was refused appropriate PPE by AMR and ultimately fired for his refusal to shave. This year, we filed EEOC charges for a second client, Inder Dhanota, who had a frustratingly similar experience: AMR kept him in limbo for six months, refusing to allow him to work unless he shaved his beard. 

This lawsuit is one of several that our team is managing right now as it moves through federal court. But we aren’t just doing casework on these issues: From being cited by the Supreme Court to testifying before Congress and engaging partner organizations, we continue to fight for all Sikhs to have access to the accommodations they are legally entitled to regardless of their profession.

Ultimately, all of this work is only possible with your dasvandh. The difficult truth is that our legal work takes resources, and we can only show up for clients—and provide them expert counsel for free—when we have the financial reserves to do so. Regardless, the fight for equitable access to accommodations remains a top priority to our team and our organization in the year to come. We sincerely hope that we can count on your support to continue this shared and essential work!

Chardi Kala, 

Giselle Klapper
Deputy Legal Director
The Sikh Coalition