{"id":3147,"date":"2017-12-05T11:24:06","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T16:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/?p=3147"},"modified":"2020-01-07T20:59:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-07T20:59:35","slug":"hoboken-nj-elects-a-sikh-as-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/hoboken-nj-elects-a-sikh-as-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoboken, NJ Elects a Sikh as Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hoboken, NJ Elects a Sikh as Mayor
\nHoboken, NJ –\u00a0<\/strong>The city of Hoboken, New Jersey made history on election day this year, by electing New Jersey’s first Sikh mayor ever, Ravi Bhalla, 44. Many Hoboken residents are taking their new mayor’s win as a badge of honor. Bhalla is also notably one of only a few Sikhs to become mayor of any American city.
\nUpon winning the election, Bhalla happily said, \u201cI feel exhilarated\u2026 I didn\u2019t have any expectations one way or another of victory or defeat, I was prepared for both. And I feel very grateful to have the opportunity to serve Hoboken.\u201d
\nAccording to the Sikh Coalition, America’s largest Sikh civil rights group, Sikhs are regularly targeted for hate crimes<\/a> in part “due to the Sikh articles of faith, including a turban and beard, which represent the Sikh religious commitment to justice, tolerance and equality.”
\nSikhs stand out because it is a key aspect of their religion to wear the “Five Ks” in order to identify themselves as a member of the Khalsa Panth, an army of the devout.<\/p>\n

The “Five Ks” stand for<\/p>\n

1) Kesh (uncut hair),<\/p>\n

2) Kara (a steel bangle),<\/p>\n

3) Kanga (a wooden comb),<\/p>\n

4) Kaccha (cotton underwear) and<\/p>\n

5) Kirpan (a steel sword).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, since 9\/11, Sikh-Americans have faced ongoing discrimination and abuse because their long beards and turbans make them more visible than other minority religious groups. Many Sikhs reported that they felt no safer, 15 years after the terrorist attacks. Case in point, in 2012, a Wisconsin gunman walked into a Sikh place of worship\u2014a \u201cgurdwara\u201d\u2014killing six members.<\/p>\n

Bhalla, himself was not immune from discrimination during his Hoboken campaign. Last week flyers appeared around Hoboken showing Bhalla, wearing a traditional turban that is traditional to his faith with the hateful message: \u201cDON\u2019T LET TERRORISM TAKE OVER OUR TOWN!\u201d<\/strong>
\n\u201cIt is not what Hoboken is about, it is not reflective of our community,\u201d Bhalla stated. \u201cIt\u2019s just unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of their distinct characteristics\u2014like turbans and long beards, Sikh are easily singled out<\/a> at times for failing to conform to society\u2019s norms. However, Sikh are protected to an extent under Federal law because of their religion in the workplace. While Title VII does not prohibit employment dress or grooming rules, per se, as long as these company rules do not have a \u201cdisparate impact\u201d on the applicant or employee. Title VII<\/a> does require an employer, once the employer becomes aware that a religious accommodation is needed, to accommodate the person who\u2019s sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance conflicts with the employer\u2019s requirements or \u201cappearance policies,\u201d unless doing so would pose an \u201cundue hardship.\u201d
\nTitle VII protects people from discrimination based on their sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs. Likewise, for employees living in the State of New York, or New York City, there are additional protections under state and local legislation.
\nThe experienced New York City sexual harassment attorneys at the Derek Smith Law Group, PLLC have years of experience litigating claims of discrimination. Working together with our Philadelphia sexual harassment attorneys, we have recovered millions on behalf of our clients who were discriminated against because of their gender, religion, race, and disability. If you feel you have been discriminated against, please give our attorneys a call at (800) 807-2209 for your free consultation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoboken, NJ Elects a Sikh as Mayor Hoboken, NJ –\u00a0The city of Hoboken, New Jersey made history on election day this year, by electing New Jersey’s first Sikh mayor ever, Ravi Bhalla, 44. Many Hoboken residents are taking their new mayor’s win as a badge of honor. Bhalla is also notably one of only a … Continue reading “Hoboken, NJ Elects a Sikh as Mayor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,4,48,7,9,11,831],"tags":[1691,1692,1693,1694,1695,1696,1697,1698,1699,32,1700,1701,1702,1703,96,1704,1705],"class_list":["post-3147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employment-discrimination","category-employment-law","category-hostile-work-environment","category-new-jersey-lawyer","category-new-york-city-lawyer","category-philadelphia-lawyer","category-race-discrimination","tag-9-11","tag-gurdwara","tag-hoboken","tag-kaccha","tag-kanga","tag-kara","tag-kesh","tag-khalsa-panth","tag-kirpan","tag-new-york-city","tag-ravi-bhalla","tag-sikh-coalition","tag-sikhs","tag-state-of-new-york","tag-title-vii","tag-turbans","tag-wisconsin-gunman"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}