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Man fired over mullet haircut claims religious discrimination due to ‘Nazarite beliefs’
TOOWOOMBA, QLD – A former ANZ employee who was fired for refusing to trim his mullet-style haircut has now accused the employer of ‘religious discrimination’.
William Cyrus, also known as ‘Billy Ray‘, was removed from his position as an ANZ bank teller in 2020 after management dismissed him on the grounds of ‘continually and repeatedly failing to meet basic presentation standards in customer service’.
However, in an unusual twist, Mr Cyrus has now claimed that the haircut is actually part of an Old Testament ‘Nazarite vow’ (Numbers 6), and therefore he has been discriminated against according to his beliefs.
“As a proud Jewish-bogan man I took the Nazarite vow about 6 months ago as part of my dedication to the Lord,” Mr Cyrus explained.
“I gave up grog (which was really bloody hard), avoided dead bodies, and made sure not to cut the hair on the back of my head.”
“The only problem is those jerks in management then told me that my hair was unhygienic, and was scarin’ away the customers.”
“When I told them it was for religious reasons they just laughed at me and gave me the boot.”
“I feel like the Biblical hero Samson, while the management are the evil Delilah trying to snip me and steal my great power.”
Religious freedom legal center, the Human Rights Law Alliance, have agreed to take on Mr Cyrus’ case.
“Mr. Cyrus may be a weird and slightly smelly bloke, but he has his right to his religious beliefs just like anyone else,” lawyer John Steenhof said.
“ANZ need to understand that religion goes to the core of a person’s identity, and they can’t discriminate just because they don’t like the practices of his faith.”
“As Jesus said, even the hair on our heads are numbered, and I’m sure he wasn’t excluding mullets.”
It is further reported that although Mr Cyrus is continuing his case, his Nazarite vow is almost finished and he is planning to throw a ‘sacrifice BBQ party’ where he will shave off his mullet and put it on the fire as a sin offering for his local football team.
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