Sughrim v.
State of New York
No. 19-cv-7977 (S.D.N.Y.)
In September 2023, United States District Judge Ronnie Abrams certified a class action on behalf of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (“DOCCS”) security officers who submitted religious accommodation requests for beards that were not granted after August 26, 2016.
Judge Abrams also found that DOCCS was using an impermissible religious inquiry to deny religious beard accommodation requests of certain New York State Correction Officers.
The Court issued a permanent injunction directing DOCCS and DOCCS officials to stop “enforcing their practice of denying religious accommodations based on their own understanding of the tenets of the applicant’s faith” and ordered them to “amend their grooming policies to memorialize the end of that practice.”
In November 2024, Class Counsel and attorneys for the State of New York and DOCCS reached agreement on what changes were needed to DOCCS policies to ensure the permanent injunction was properly implemented.
On December 23, 2024, the Court granted preliminary approval of the parties’ proposed agreement and set a fairness hearing.
The hearing will take place at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley Square, Courtroom 1506, New York, New York 10007.
The date and time for the fairness hearing was moved to:
May 23, 2025 at 1:30 p.m.