Domino’s Settles Suit Over Beard Ban

Domino’s Pizza announced this week it has dropped its long-standing ban on bearded employees and settled a 12-year-old lawsuit that accused the company of discriminating against a Sikh, whose religion forbids shaving.

Changing American fashions, not conscience, prompted the nation’s No. 2 pizza chain to drop its no-beard policy effective Monday, said Tim McIntyre, vice president for corporate relations.

The company eliminated its cleanshaven requirement because the public has become more accepting of beards, McIntyre said.

Prabhjot S. Kohli of Catonsville, Md., had waged a legal battle against Domino’s after the company refused in 1987 to hire him as a pizza store manager trainee unless he shaved his beard.