An insurance claims processing company in Alabama, Catastrophe Management Solutions (CMS), refused to hire Chastity Jones, a Black woman, because she has dreadlocks. In a 3-0 decision, the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of CMS last week, asserting that it’s legal for companies to refuse employment based on hairstyles.
Jones said she was planning to begin a position at CMS in 2010, when a white human resources representative told her she must get rid of her dreadlocks, as they “tend to get messy.” The company rescinded her offer of employment when Jones refused to change her hairstyle.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a race discrimination lawsuit against CMS on behalf of Jones in 2013, stating, “Dreadlocks are a manner of wearing the hair that is physiologically and culturally associated with people of African descent.”
