A Shreveport-based drug and medical testing supply company has agreed to pay $50,000 and sign a consent decree after being accused of firing an employee over her hair.
American Screening LLC agreed to settle the race discrimination suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in federal court.
The lawsuit, which was filed several years ago, accused the company of firing a Black woman after she started wearing her natural hair to work. The suit alleges the woman wore a long, straight wig to her job interview and to work for several months after she was hired. But then she started wearing her natural hair.
"After she stopped wearing the wig and started wearing her hair in its naturally curly texture, the company’s owner instructed a human resources manager to counsel the employee about her hair and “looking more professional,” complaining that the worker “came in with beautiful hair.” The employee’s hair—considered type “4-A” on the Andre Walker Hair Typing System—is commonly associated with people who, like the employee, are Black," an EEOC release states. "The owner then directed the employee to begin wearing her wig with straight hair again. When the employee continued to wear her natural hair, the company fired her. The company later hired a white worker in her place, according to the EEOC’s lawsuit."
Firing someone for their natural hair is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, "which prohibits firing employees or subjecting them to different terms and conditions of employment because of their race," the release states.
The EEOC tried to settle with the company but ended up filing a lawsuit. That suit has now been resolved by consent decree, which you can read for yourself by scrolling down. Court records show the consent decree was filed today.
The three-year consent decree settling the suit requires the company to enact policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race or any immutable characteristic of race, including hair texture, and policies that prohibit discrimination against an employee who chooses to display their natural hair texture or style it in a way that is protective of their natural hair or scalp.
“Just as an employer may not ask an employee to change or conceal their skin color, an employer may not ask an employee to change their natural hair texture,” EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows said. “Unfortunately, this form of discrimination continues to limit employment opportunities for Black workers, even today.”
Elizabeth Owen, a senior trial attorney at the EEOC, said, “Professionalism standards rooted in prejudices associated with racial characteristics are unlawful. No one should be terminated or treated differently because of hair texture associated with their race, under the guise of what is supposedly professional or not.”
You can find out more about this kind of discrimination here: https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolordiscrimination.
Here's the consent decree:
