Black Employee Fired for Not Cutting Dreadlocks Lacks Bias Claim

A Black man in Alabama who says Globe Metallurgical Inc. adopted a policy banning dreadlocks in the workplace and then fired him for refusing to cut his hair lacks a race discrimination claim under federal anti-bias law, a federal judge ruled.

Matthew Jones’ claim is foreclosed by 2016 circuit precedent holding that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act only prohibits discrimination based on a worker’s immutable personal characteristics, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama said.

Cultural practices such as a hairstyle, even if predominately linked to race or another protected trait, don’t qualify, the ...