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New York City Issues Guidance on Hairstyle Discrimination

On February 18, 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) published guidance on race-based hairstyle discrimination under the local New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), with a focus on hairstyles associated with African-Americans.

Ally Law details hairstyle discrimination

The Commission, which is tasked with preventing discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and housing, stated that white and European beauty standards, which are often reflected in employers’ grooming and appearance policies, do not trump peoples’ rights to wear hairstyles that reflect their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. The Commission emphasized that “[f]or Black people, this includes the right to maintain natural hair, treated or untreated hairstyles such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, fades, Afros, and/or the right to keep hair in an uncut or untrimmed state.”

Even if an employer’s appearance standards do not expressly target African-Americans, they may still run afoul of the guidance if they unintentionally (or “disparately”) impact black hair or hairstyles. The Commission identified, among other examples, “[a] grooming policy banning hair that extends a certain number of inches from the scalp, thereby limiting afros.” Policies that specifically target hairstyles, like cornrows, or policies that mandate a “neat and clean” appearance but are interpreted to prohibit certain hairstyles, like dreadlocks, are even more clearly unlawful.

While some news headlines claim that New York City has now “outlawed” or “banned” hairstyle discrimination, the new guidance actually reflects the Commission’s interpretation of existing law under the NYCHRL. However, when agencies, like the Commission, publish interpretations of the laws they are tasked with enforcing, like the NYCHRL, courts are generally required to defer to these interpretations.

Click here to read the full article by Alexander V. Batoff of Ally Law member firm Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel.