Neil Kamerling et al., Plaintiffs-appellants, v. John T. O'hagan, Fire Commissioner, City of New York,defendant-appellee, 512 F.2d 443 (2d Cir. 1975)

This action was commenced by an order to show cause seeking a preliminary injunction, and by a summons and complaint seeking a permanent injunction, against the Fire Commissioner of the City of New York. On July 1, 1974, the Commissioner had issued a regulation, PA/ID 6-74,¹  which banned beards and set standards for the length of firemen's hair, moustaches and sideburns. The plaintiff firemen who were in violation of the regulation challenge it as an unconstitutional invasion for their rights of free expression, due process and equal protection. The defendant Commissioner took the position that the regulation was necessary to insure the safety and security of the fire-fighting personnel of the Fire Department. After a two-day hearing, Hon. Mark A. Costantino, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, issued a decision and judgment entered on July 30, 1974, denying the application for a preliminary injunction and dismissing the complaint. The only issue raised on appeal is that the trial court's conclusion that the defendant had established a genuine public need for the regulation was based upon erroneous findings of fact.

In Dwen v. Barry, 483 F.2d 1126, 1130 (2d Cir. 1973) this court stated that "... choice of personal appearance is an ingredient of an individual's personal liberty and ... any restriction on that right must be justified by a legitimate state interest reasonably related to the regulation." This "reasonable relation" test is clearly applicable here; the suggestion in appellants' brief that the Commissioner had the burden of establishing a "compelling" state interest in order to justify the regulation is without support in precedent or logic. There was ample evidence to justify the conclusion of the court below that the regulation, which applied only to Department personnel actively engaged in fire fighting, was promulgated to insure the safety of firemen and that it was reasonably related to a legitimate state interest. As the court observed in a case upholding a similar regulation of the Philadelphia Fire Department, Michini v. Rizzo, 379 F. Supp. 837, 852 (E.D. Pa. 1974): "The officials in charge of the Department have a right-and a duty-to seek to achieve maximum safety" (emphasis in original). Although the named plaintiffs testified on their own behalf to the effect that they had never been hampered or endangered by long hair or beards, other evidence before the court was contrary. There was the testimony of the Commissioner and the Fire Department Chief of Staff that fire-fighters have had their hair burned below the rim of the helmet; see Michini v. Rizzo, supra, 379 F. Supp. at 846-47;²  Olszewski v. Council of Hempstead Fire Dep't, 70 Misc.2d 603, 334 N.Y.S.2d 504, 508 (Sup.Ct., Nassau Cty., 1972), modified procedurally, 41 A.D.2d 968, 344 N.Y.S.2d 992 (2d Dep't 1973). There was medical evidence that facial hair is flammable as well as infectious and that injuries to full-bearded faces create greater than normal obstacles to treatment.

Despite the contrary testimony of plaintiffs there was live testimony as well as scientific data submitted to the court which established that beard growth substantially increases the inward leakage rate of face masks. The Commissioner, who is a member of the User Design Committee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, testified that a cleanly shaved face is required in order to achieve a good seal on the face mask of the Scott Airpack, the respirator used by the New York Fire Department. See Olszewski v. Council of Hempstead Fire Dep't, supra, 334 N.Y.S.2d at 506-08.

In view of the unquestioned interest of the City of New York in the health and safety of its fire-fighters, as well as that of the citizens they serve, we conclude that the regulation in question is reasonably related to that interest, that the findings of fact below were not erroneous, and that therefore the order appealed from must be affirmed.³ 

Affirmed.