Calls Firing Religious Bias
Skirt's Issue for Bus Driver

By ARI PAUL

Tahita Jenkins knew five years ago that she wanted to be a Bus Operator for New York City Transit. She drove buses for several companies, but all the while she dreamed of being behind the wheel of one of the city's ubiquitous white and blue buses.

"It's a good city job," she said. "I like dealing with the public."

Ms. Jenkins got her chance at NYC Transit on May 14. She attended training, passed the test and got on payroll, only to be forced to resign before her first day of driving a bus on her own because the dress code for Bus Operators violated her religious beliefs.

Can't Wear Pants

As a Pentecostal Christian woman, Ms. Jenkins is forbidden to wear pants. She told her supervisor about her beliefs and was told she needed a note from her pastor as proof. According to Ms. Jenkins, she provided the note and was then told she could proceed with the training in a skirt.

She passed the driving test on May 24 wearing a skirt, she said, and when she reported for work on May 29 an NYC Transit representative told her that she must wear pants on the job or resign. Transit offered her a pair of culottes, a split skirt, but Ms. Jenkins said the article she was offered was not a skirt. Ms. Jenkins said she was told that a skirt would interfere with her ability to use the pedals, which she countered was not true because she had passed the test and worked as a bus driver. But the representative was unmoved, Ms. Jenkins recalled. Unwilling to violate her religious convictions, she walked away from the job she always wanted.

Claims Religious Bias

This case roughly mirrors that of Kevin Harrington, a Sikh Train Conductor who was reassigned because he would not remove his turban while working. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2004 against NYC Transit and the MTA claiming the dress policy discriminated against Muslims and Sikhs. According to Amardeep Singh, the executive director of the Sikh Coalition, NYC Transit's reasoning was that unless Conductors had work-issued hats they would not be easily identified as transit workers.

"The parallels are very similar," Mr. Singh said of the two cases.

Ms. Jenkins claimed that she is a victim of religious discrimination. While Transport Workers' Union Local 100 was supportive of Mr. Harrington, it cannot help Ms. Jenkins because she was still a trainee in her probation period.

Charles Seaton, a spokesman for NYC Transit, said she had signed a form acknowledging the clothing rules for Bus Operators.

"Wearing a skirt restricts movement of the feet," he said. "The prohibition for any woman wearing a skirt is a safety concern."

In addition to pedaling, he said a Bus Operator often has to stand on the bumper to adjust the mirror. Skirts could also get caught in wheelchairs, as Bus Operators must assist disabled riders, he said.

"We pilot-tested a skirt for the uniform years ago, but witnessed that they become bunched," Mr. Seaton said.

Causes Distraction

He added that this caused some female Bus Operators to take one hand off the steering wheel to adjust themselves and to pay less attention to the road.

In the meantime, Ms. Jenkins has returned to her previous job driving a school bus in upper Manhattan, but still harbors hopes of working for NYC Transit one day.

"I'm going to fight this," Ms. Jenkins said, without elaborating on what form her battle might take. "I feel like if I can perform the job in a skirt, then it shouldn't be a problem."