An Orthodox Jewish woman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging New York State Department of Motor Vehicles employees forced her to remove her religious head covering for a driver’s license photograph, in violation of state policy and constitutional protections.

Sara Fellig, a Brooklyn resident, said the incident occurred on Nov. 13 at the DMV office on Atlantic Avenue. According to the complaint, filed April 27 in federal court, an employee asked Fellig if her head covering was worn for religious purposes. According to the suit, Fellig was wearing a “beanie-style hat designed to be worn over a partial wig.”

When she said it was, the employee allegedly replied, “Well, you still can’t wear your hat.”

The lawsuit states that although Fellig offered to adjust the covering despite claiming it did not obscure her face, she was told it had to be removed. She ultimately complied, taking it off in a crowded public area before the photograph was taken.

New York regulations allow head coverings in license photos as long as the face is clearly visible.

“The DMV didn’t follow its own rules when it forced Ms. Fellig to remove her religious head covering,” Fellig’s attorney Emma Lerner Freeman told JNS. “Especially in New York City, which prides itself on being a safe place for people of all faiths, the DMV needs to do better. It must be held accountable for violating Ms. Fellig’s First Amendment rights and causing her lasting trauma.”

The lawsuit claims that each time Fellig is required to present her driver’s license, which includes the photograph with her hair uncovered, she “experiences a renewed desecration of her religious beliefs.”

The suit names New York State DMV Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder and two unnamed employees as defendants, citing inadequate training and failure to follow established policy.

Forcing Fellig to uncover her hair in public caused “severe emotional distress, trauma and deprivation of her constitutional rights,” the filing states. Fellig, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch community in Crown Heights and a mother of three young daughters, says she wears a head covering at all times despite experiencing multiple incidents of antisemitic harassment in recent years.

She is seeking damages and court-ordered reforms, including improved staff training for DMV employees on accommodating religious practices.