I received a very interesting question this month on behalf of one of our firm’s clients. The client wanted to know if it could include in their Dress Code and Grooming policy a provision barring employees from having unusual, atypical hair coloring, such as blue, green and/or purple hair. At first glance it should be an easy question to answer. One would think when it comes to grooming policies employers have a wide degree of discretion in deciding the appearance and image that they want their employees to project to the general public. But the legal answer is a little more complicated than that when it comes to employee hair styles.
New Jersey, like several states, has what is known as the “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act” (CROWN Act). It is part of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”). The CROWN law specifically prohibits discrimination based on “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles.” The CROWN Act LAD amendment further defines “protective hairstyles” to include “such hairstyles as braids, locks and twists,” but does not limit the definition to just those styles alone. New Jersey passed this law largely because of an incident involving an African American high school wrestler who was forced to cut his dreadlocks. Otherwise, he was going to be disqualified from participating in his match.
In light of the CROWN Act, employers in New Jersey need to analyze carefully dress code and personal appearance policies to make sure that any limitations on hair styles do not run afoul of its restrictions.
So how would the law apply to the question posed by the firm’s client? Prohibiting unusual hair colors likely would not violate the CROWN Act unless someone can argue that a particular hair color that is banned is historically associated with race, which could be hard to do in most circumstances. As this example shows, however, employers have reason to give such issues more legal thought than one would expect might be required because of the restrictions of the CROWN Act.
The moral of this story—always scrutinize your employment policies closely and have a thorough understanding of all potential protected classes under the LAD to avoid every type of wrongful discrimination claim.