Nassau County police used grooming policies as a tool to sideline minority officers by punishing those with a common skin condition that mostly affects Black men, a new lawsuit claims.
Four officers say the department weaponized rules around shaving to sideline those with pseudofolliculitis barbae, a skin condition that causes razor bumps and scarring from shaving, accusing Nassau police of using the policy as a cover for discrimination to sideline minority officers under the guise of grooming standards.
The officers — Garlinsky Jean, Kenneth Herbert, Alexander Renwart and David Soto — are all now demanding $100 million in damages and asking the court to declare the department’s treatment unlawful.
“Nassau County has an obligation to treat African American officers with the same regard they treat other people,” said civil rights attorney Frederick Brewington, who is representing the plaintiffs.
“The fact that they would not accommodate a medical condition that largely impacts African Americans is outrageous.”
All four officers — three Black men and one Puerto Rican — were medically exempt from the department’s clean-shaven standards due to the condition, which disproportionately affects men with tight curly hair, as up to 60% of Black men suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae, according to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology.
But instead of accommodating the officer’s condition, the lawsuit claims that the department tossed them onto desk duty, stripped them of overtime opportunities, blocked transfers, stumped promotions, and made them recertify their diagnosis every single month with a physician’s note — which the suit described as a punishment disguised as policy.
The lawsuit argues the department’s actions are just the latest example of a deeper, long-standing problem in a county with a history of shutting out Black, Latino, and female applicants from joining the force.
In fact, the Department of Justice had to step in back in 198 to force Nassau into a federal consent decree to break up discriminatory hiring practices that kept people of color and women out of uniform.
In 2021, 6,539 Black Long Islanders tried to become police officers between both counties. Only 67 were hired, and both counties disqualified minority applicants at rates higher than those of their white peers, according to county data.
The lawsuit was filed in December, but has just become public only days after the U.S. Army announced its scrapping shaving exemptions for the same condition, potentially booting troops who can’t stay clean-shaven from the military altogether.
The suit claims the department’s so-called grooming policy became a backdoor to discrimination, with the treatment allegedly coming from the top.
At a 2022 awards ceremony, Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder is accused of publicly mocking Renwart while handing him a Meritorious Police Award.
“What, did you forget your f*cking razor at home?” Ryder allegedly said, despite Renwart having a medical exemption on file, as he handed the officer his award.
Attorneys for the county denied any wrongdoing in court filings, arguing that all actions against the four cops “were taken in good faith for non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory legitimate business,” and not based on race, national origin, sexuality, or disability.
Brewington is now pushing for the lawsuit to be granted class-action status, potentially leading to payouts for any officer reassigned to desk duty due to pseudofolliculitis barbae — arguing the officers’ rights were violated under the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and New York State human rights law.
A mediation between both sides is scheduled for July 31.
Nassau County PD and Commissioner Ryder did not respond to a request for comment.
