COMPANY TO FORK OVER $50,000 AND MUST MODIFY POLICIES AND PRACTICES
American Screening, LLC, a medical testing supply company, is said to have violated federal law when it fired an employee for displaying her natural hair and later replacing her with a white worker.
Apparently, when the impacted individual interviewed for a sales position with the company she wore a wig with long, straight hair. After she was hired, and started sporting naturally curly hair, the company’s owner is said to have complained about that latter look and directed that she don a wig.
Because such conduct purportedly violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) filed suit, (EEOC v. American Screening Case No. 22-01674), in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In a recently announced settlement, American Screening agreed to pay $50,000, will modify its employment and training related practices to comport with federal law, and will regularly report to the agency.
In a written statement, EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows noted that, “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 …. Unfortunately, this form of discrimination continues to limit employment opportunities for Black workers, even today.”
Think they lost that by a hair?
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