New Mexico Outlaws Hairstyle, Headdress Discrimination at Work

Workplace discrimination based on a person’s hairstyle or cultural headdress will be illegal in New Mexico starting July 1, under a bill Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Monday.

• Lujan Grisham (D) signed two identical bills (H.B. 29 and S.B. 80) that the state Legislature passed unanimously.
• The law changes the state’s Human Rights Act and school rules to add hairstyles and cultural or religious headdresses to the ban on race-based discrimination.
• New Mexico joins states responding to the CROWN Act movement that highlights discrimination faced by people of color at work and school based on their hair.