Labor & Employment
EEOC Files Suit Over Policy Requiring Tucked-In Dreadlocks
Posted Sep 18, 2008, 07:05 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of four guards at New York’s Grand Central Station who were disciplined for failing to tuck their dreadlocks into their uniform caps.
The guards say the employer policy violates Rastafarian beliefs that prohibit them from cutting their hair, the New York Times reports. The men’s hair was so long that they couldn’t put it under their hats and they asked instead to be allowed to wear it tied behind their backs.
David Roskin, a spokesman for the employer, the Grand Central Partnership, said it had been trying to work out an accommodation and the lawsuit was a surprise.