Automobile Lemon Law

Are you being discriminated on the basis of hair?  Do you know that the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.

​

Under FEHA, it is unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory employment practices, including hiring, promotion, and termination based on certain protected characteristics, including race, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations. The act also prohibits housing discrimination based on specified personal characteristics, including race. The act also prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics.

 

The California Legislature passed the Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (“CROWN”) Act, which provides that the definition of race for these purposes also include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.

 

In so doing, the Legislature declared as follows:

 

(a) The history of our nation is riddled with laws and societal norms that equated “blackness,” and the associated physical traits, for example, dark skin, kinky and curly hair to a badge of inferiority, sometimes subject to separate and unequal treatment.

 

(b) This idea also permeated societal understanding of professionalism. Professionalism was, and still is, closely linked to European features and mannerisms, which entails that those who do not naturally fall into Eurocentric norms must alter their appearances, sometimes drastically and permanently, in order to be deemed professional.

 

(c) Despite the great strides American society and laws have made to reverse the racist ideology that Black traits are inferior, hair remains a rampant source of racial discrimination with serious economic and health consequences, especially for Black individuals.

 

(d) Workplace dress code and grooming policies that prohibit natural hair, including afros, braids, twists, and locks, have a disparate impact on Black individuals as these policies are more likely to deter Black applicants and burden or punish Black employees than any other group.

 

(e) Federal courts accept that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, and therefore protects against discrimination against afros. However, the courts do not understand that afros are not the only natural presentation of Black hair. Black hair can also be naturally presented in braids, twists, and locks.

 

(f) In a society in which hair has historically been one of many determining factors of a person’s race, and whether they were a second class citizen, hair today remains a proxy for race. Therefore, hair discrimination targeting hairstyles associated with race is racial discrimination.

 

Acting in accordance with the constitutional values of fairness, equity, and opportunity for all, the Legislature recognized that continuing to enforce a Eurocentric image of professionalism through purportedly race-neutral grooming policies that disparately impact Black individuals and exclude them from some workplaces is in direct opposition to equity and opportunity for all.

 

Today, race is inclusive of traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.  “Protective hairstyles” includes, but is not limited to, such hairstyles as braids, locks, and twists.

The new law went into effect on January 1, 2020. 

 

If you are facing racial discrimination in the workplace based on your hair texture and/or style, contact us today. 

 

The statute of limitations for filing a claim of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation increased from 1 year to 3 years, so if you have faced discrimination in the workplace on the basis of your hair texture and style, contact our office for a free consultation.

​

​