New York Hairstyle Discrimination Attorneys

Employment Lawyers Protecting the Rights of New York Workers

Is Hairstyle Discrimination Illegal in New York?

Yes, statewide. New York law defines race to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles, and New York City's Human Rights guidance reinforces the same protection. 

Workers can keep their hair natural, uncut, untrimmed, and treated or untreated, and they can wear styles such as Bantu knots, fades, Afros, braids, twists, cornrows, and locs. An employer that penalizes those choices may be committing race discrimination.

Call (866) 229-9441 or contact us online for a free and confidential consultation. We represent employees only and work on contingency, with no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.

Key Takeaways

• Hair texture and protective hairstyles are protected as part of race under New York State law, and New York City guidance provides the same protection with its own enforcement.
• The protection applies to everybody, and its central purpose is remedying the disparate treatment of Black workers.
• Employers cannot tell Black workers to straighten their hair or punish them for not straightening it.
• Grooming and safety policies must be neutral and evenly applied, and health-and-safety needs can be met with ties, hair nets, or coverings rather than demands to cut or change hair.
• The New York City Commission on Human Rights can impose penalties of up to $250,000, order rehiring, and require policy changes, and there are no caps on damages in a lawsuit for workplace race discrimination.
• Federal law is narrower, which is exactly why New York's protections matter.

What New York Law Protects

This protection is widely known as the CROWN Act, short for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, which New York enacted in July 2019. The New York State Human Rights Law protects hair texture and protective hairstyles closely associated with racial, ethnic, or cultural identity, at employers of every size across the state. New York City's guidance under the City Human Rights Law, already one of the most protective civil rights laws in the country, states the same right: New Yorkers can maintain natural hair and hairstyles tied to their identity in workplaces, schools, and public spaces.

The guidance is explicit about what employers cannot do. They cannot ban hairstyles associated with Black people, such as cornrows, do-rags, locs, or Afros. They cannot tell Black workers to straighten their hair, and they cannot punish workers for declining to. The protection exists because of the persistence of the racist stereotype that Black hairstyles are unprofessional, and the law's purpose is to stop that stereotype from operating as an employment standard.

What Hairstyle Discrimination Looks Like

Being told to straighten, cut, or cover natural hair to keep a job or get one. Grooming policies that ban braids, locs, or twists by name or in effect. Being pulled from the sales floor, the front desk, or client meetings over hair. 

Comments about professionalism, image, polish, or cultural fit aimed at race-associated hairstyles. Interview feedback that mentions hair at all. These patterns overlap heavily with colorism, covered on the race discrimination hub.

Grooming Policies: What Employers Can and Cannot Do

Employers can maintain neutral grooming standards and can require ties, hair nets, or other hair-related items to preserve genuine health and safety. They cannot write policies that single out race-associated hairstyles, enforce neutral policies unevenly by race, or dress a racial preference up as a professionalism standard. When safety is invoked, the question is whether the concern is genuine, evenly applied, and addressed by the least restrictive workable means that other employees already use.

Lawful or Unlawful: Common Employer Conduct at a Glance

Why Federal Law Is Not Enough, and New York Law Is

Federal courts have held that federal anti-discrimination law protects characteristics people cannot change rather than cultural practices, and the United States Supreme Court has declined to take up the question in a case where a Black woman lost a job offer for refusing to cut her locs. New York law is different by design. Hair texture and protective hairstyles are protected as part of race itself, which is why a claim that fails under federal law can succeed under the New York State and City laws.

Penalties and Remedies for Hairstyle Discrimination

The New York City Commission on Human Rights can impose penalties of up to $250,000 on violators, require companies to rehire applicants, and order changes to internal hairstyle policies. In a lawsuit for workplace race discrimination, including hairstyle discrimination, there are no caps on the damages a court can award under the New York State and City laws, and attorney fees are available under several statutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the CROWN Act?

The CROWN Act, short for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, is the name for laws prohibiting discrimination based on hair texture and protective hairstyles. New York enacted its version in July 2019 by amending the State Human Rights Law to define race to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles, at employers of every size.

Is Hair Discrimination the Same as Race Discrimination?

Under New York law, yes: hair texture and protective styles are protected as traits associated with race. That means the claim is a race discrimination claim, with the same broad New York standards, the same protection against retaliation, and the same uncapped damages.

What About Hair Comments in Job Interviews?

Hiring is covered. Interview comments about hair, requests to change a hairstyle as a condition of an offer, and rejections that follow hair remarks can all support a claim, and they should be written down immediately while the wording is exact.

What Should I Document If I Am Told My Hair Is Unprofessional?

Who said it, the exact words, the date, the setting, and any witnesses. Save the grooming policy, emails, and reviews. Note how the policy is applied to coworkers of other races. Photographs of your hairstyle at the relevant time can matter more than people expect.

Consult a New York Hairstyle Discrimination Lawyer

It is stressful to face racial discrimination in the workplace, and you do not have to navigate it alone. We've handled more than 600 race discrimination matters, and 15 of our attorneys are recognized in Super Lawyers.

Call (866) 229-9441 or contact us online to set up a free consultation with a hairstyle discrimination lawyer in New York. There are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.