In the debate over beards in business settings, the New York Police Department officially stands opposed, with limited exceptions for officers seeking a medical or religious accommodation.

The department’s no-beard policy, as it is known, is at the center of a federal class-action lawsuit filed on Wednesday on behalf of a Muslim police officer who says he was suspended during the fasting month of Ramadan for refusing to shave his one-inch beard. The lawsuit, brought by Masood Syed, 32, aims to force the Police Department to change a policy that his lawyers say infringes on the rights of more than 100 officers seeking to exercise their religious freedoms without fear of discrimination or retaliation.

Officer Syed, a 10-year veteran assigned to the office that handles disciplinary proceedings against officers, was suspended without pay on Tuesday. At an emergency hearing on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Judge P. Kevin Castel ordered the department to continue paying Officer Syed until his next court date on July 8, when the court will decide whether he can return to work.

“It’s frustrating because it’s a city that’s supposed to represent us,” Luna Droubi, a lawyer for Officer Syed, said. “This is New York City. Yet here they are telling people of different faiths that they can’t protect and serve, that they can’t be officers of the law because they’re different.”