Bally Total Fitness will have to pay 24-thousand dollars to a Sikh man who sued after being denied a job when he was asked in an interview if he was Muslim.

The U-S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Sukdev "Devin" Singh Dhaliwal (Sing DAH'-lee-wahl) applied for a sales job with one of Bally's five Fresno fitness centers in 2004.

The commission says an interviewer quizzed Dhaliwal, who was born and raised in California, about his religious and ethnic background. Dhaliwal was turned down for a job and non-Sikh, non-Indian applicants with less experience were hired instead.

Under the consent decree approved yesterday by a federal judge, Bally must pay Dhaliwal 24-thousand dollars in damages and provide training in equal opportunity hiring practices to managers at its Fresno locations. [Link]