US appeals court: Pa. prison can ban Muslim scarf

Court Alerts

Prison officials can ban employees from wearing religious headscarves out of concerns they pose a safety risk, a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Monday in a split 2-1 decision.

Prison officials have legitimate concerns the headscarves can hide drugs or other contraband, or be used by an inmate to strangle someone, the majority said.

The ruling dismisses a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of three Muslim women employed at the Delaware County Prison in suburban Thornton. The EEOC had said they were being forced to compromise their religious beliefs to keep their jobs.

The suit was filed against the Geo Group, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based contractor that formerly operated the facility.

After the prison implemented a ban on hats and headscarves in 2005, nurse Carmen Sharpe-Allen was fired for refusing to remove her headscarf, or khimar, at work. Intake clerk Marquita King and correctional officer Rashemma Moss, after some deliberation, agreed to remove their headscarves on the job.

Related listings

  • Jury questioning begins in Anna Nicole Smith case

    Jury questioning begins in Anna Nicole Smith case

    Court Alerts 08/02/2010

    Jury questioning is slated to begin Monday in Los Angeles in the drug conspiracy trial of Anna Nicole Smith's doctors and her lawyer-boyfriend.Superior Court Judge Robert Perry says questionnaires filled out by prospective jurors show most of them kn...

  • 2 re-sentencings ordered in $1.9B Ohio fraud case

    2 re-sentencings ordered in $1.9B Ohio fraud case

    Court Alerts 07/29/2010

    A federal appeals court has ordered two executives convicted in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case to be resentenced.The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said Wednesday the government hadn't proved Donald Ayers and Roger Faulkenberry ...

  • Ark. mom pleads guilty in trunk deaths of children

    Ark. mom pleads guilty in trunk deaths of children

    Court Alerts 07/28/2010

    A Springdale woman has been sentenced to six months of work release and fined $2,000 in the heat stroke deaths of her two children who had locked themselves in the trunk of a car.Twenty-five-year-old Katrina Markley pleaded guilty Monday to two misde...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read