Appeals court rules against dreadlocks

The Grio -Refusing to hire someone who has dreadlocks is legal, thanks to a recent ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had filed a lawsuit against Catastrophe Management Solutions of Mobile, Alabama for rescinding a job offer to Chastity Jones because of her dreadlock hairstyle. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the EEOC lawsuit.

The EEOC, in their lawsuit, said this violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s Title VII, arguing that dreadlocks are a hairstyle “physiologically and culturally associated” with African-Americans. Further, the EEOC said the hairstyle is a “racial characteristic” used to harshly and unfairly stereotype Black people, such as viewing people who wear the style as bad team players or unfit for the workplace. Therefore, the EEOC argued dreadlocks do not fit a grooming policy.

The court of appeals, however, disagreed with this rationale, ruling that CMS’s “race–neutral grooming policy” was not discriminatory as hairstyles, while “culturally associated with race,” are not “immutable physical characteristics,” according to NBC News. Essentially, this means that while African-Americans may wear the hairstyle and it may be tied to their culture, it is unlike an immutable physical characteristic as the hairstyle can be changed. Thus, the court ruled people who wear dreadlocks are not protected from job offers, or the lack thereof.