Sikh security guard seeks USD40,000 in damages from Home Depot

A Sikh security guard working at a Home Depot outlet here has demanded USD 40,000 in compensation from the American home furnishing retail giant, claiming that he was ill treated by the store manager for refusing to take off his turban on duty.

The guard, Deepinder Loomba, in his testimony before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal Commission, said that he was
also threatened with loss of employment by the assistant manager of the store.

"The word he used was 'fired,'" Loomba was quoted as telling the tribunal on Wednesday by Toronto Star, while recalling a December 6, 2005 conversation between himself and Brian Busch, assistant manager of the Home Depot outlet in Milton which was still under construction that time.

During his cross-examination at the tribunal, Loomba testified that Busch told him he had to put on a hard hat, despite the fact that his role was to sit at a desk away from construction zones or patrol the exterior of the facility, the
report said.

Loomba, who was posted at the store by his employer Reilly's Security Services, also testified that when he did not comply, Busch was rude to him and later mocked him with a group of workers at the site.

He said Busch then told him that individuals before him had been fired for not complying in a similar fashion.

Loomba's lawyer, Raj Anand, said outside the tribunal that Home Depot was "at best slow and at worst resistant to providing any response to this complaint for about 18 months or more."

Anand said his client felt insulted and degraded and has had some physical effects including anxiety, headaches and
insomnia as a result of the event.

"As a Sikh, (Loomba) has the right to wear his turban," Anand was quoted as saying.
    
"It is part of his religious observance and the law is essentially that he cannot be prevented from doing that unless
it would create a very extreme health and safety risk to himself or others.

"In this case, he was simply at an access desk where people were coming by to pick up their hard hats and he was providing security for that purpose," he said

Anand said Loomba is seeking USD 40,000 in compensation for physical and emotional damage.