Mitchell: CROWN Act Provides Clarity to Previously Ambiguous Grooming Policies
A Texas law designed to protect students and employees against discrimination based on their hair texture or protective styles will clarify previously ambiguous policies requiring that “professional hair” be worn in a “neatly kept manner,” Shook Associate Megan Mitchell wrote in an article for The Houston Lawyer.
Mitchell authored an article titled “A Deep Dive into the Crown Act: Stopping Hair Discrimination One Strand at a Time,” which discusses how the CROWN Act—which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair—came to be, the issue of hair bias, and who will be protected by the law.
Giving an example, she said the law may provide protection to an applicant hired for a job while wearing straightened hair, only to have the job rescinded upon wearing natural hair to work.
“The discrimination subject to the CROWN Act may not be as blatant as being directly told ‘you will be fired unless you change your hair,’ but often shows itself after a previously unmentioned policy shows up in written or verbal form, requiring the student or employee to conform to new hair regulation that serves no other purpose besides discrimination,” she said.
