EMPLOYMENT

Job Applicant Claiming Religious Discrimination Gets $150K

A job applicant who claimed his offer to work at U.S. Steel Tubular Products Inc. was rescinded because he refused a hair-follicle drug test on religious grounds agreed to a $150,000 settlement. Steven Fasuyi, a Hebrew Israelite, claimed that his dreadlocks have religious significance and he's forbidden from cutting his hair down to his scalp. He said he offered to use hair from his beard for the drug screening. After his refusal, Fasuyi went back to the medical facility to try to undergo the test using body or facial hair, but U.S. Steel refused to authorize it. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission noted that the testing protocol permitted the use of body or facial hair.