Two Sikhs have filed a human rights complaint against a sawmill firm in Canada [Images], saying its new hard hat policy is preventing them from returning to their jobs.

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal accepted the complaint of Kalwant Singh Sahota and Mander Singh Sohal last month and asked International Forest Products to file its response by April 9.

"Both of these guys are both long, long-term forestry employee workers and this is the first time this has ever happened," their lawyer David Perry was quoted as saying by the Vancouver Sun.