Mad at Hat Rule: Sikh port truckers may challenge hardhat policy

MONTREAL – Canadian Sikh truck drivers are preparing to once again fight workplace safety rules requiring hardhats to be worn on the job — this time in Quebec.

According to the CBC, mangers at the Port of Montreal are enforcing a policy that staff and any other workers entering the port, including truck drivers, must wear hardhats and other safety gear at all times.

As has been the case in similar disputes across the country in the past, Sikh truckers have refused to abide by the rule, arguing that they are obligated to wear turbans as a requirement of their religion and cannot remove them.

Some drivers have told media the port is refusing to serve drivers without hardhats.

France Poulin, a spokesperson for the Montreal Port Authority, told CBC the rule is not discriminatory and that port managers are following the Canadian Labour Code standards.

The Sikh drivers have reportedly filed a challenge with Quebec’s human rights tribunal.

The right to wear turbans while working in a safety-sensitive position has been a controversial issue for over 15 years — dating back to 1990 when the RCMP dropped a ban prevented Sikh officers from wearing turbans while in uniform.

More recently, about 500 Sikh truck drivers hauling in and out of CP Rail’s intermodal yards threatened to go to the Human Rights Commission if the railway did not drop its “zero tolerance” policy for mandatory hardhats on CP property.

The company acknowledged the rule might be a concern for some Sikh drivers and suggested that the truckers could comply with the policy if they removed only part of their turban, which comes in two sections. The drivers refused to wear the hardhats on the “underturban.”

As Today’s Trucking reported in October last year, the drivers held back on their threat to file a human rights challenge after CP agreed to issue a moratorium exempting the drivers from the rule while the matter was under negotiation. There was no word if a deal has since been reached, but to date, a formal human rights challenge has not been filed. (To read more on this story click on the Related Articles link at the bottom of the page).

Decisions between human rights commissions and the courts over this matter have somewhat varied over the years. In 1985, for example, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a human rights tribunal decision that ruled in favour of K.S. Bhinder, a maintenance electrician with CN who refused to wear a hardhat while on the job and was ultimately fired.

Although Bhinder proved he had been discriminated against, the Supreme Court agreed the discrimination was a bona fide occupational requirement for CN.

Toronto labour lawyer Ron Ouellette tells Today’s Trucking that any court or tribunal would closely examine the working environment and safety risks associated with the job. In that case, a “zero tolerance” blanket policy won’t likely hold up, he said.

The judicial system has been much clearer when the religious rights of Sikhs don’t involve the workplace. Last week, Sikhs in Quebec won a major court victory when the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a blanket ban on Sikh boys wearing ceremonial daggers – called kirpans — to school.

The court said the practice should be allowed, although schools can require the daggers to be wrapped and concealed inside students’ clothing.

— with files from CBC