A black man claims in a lawsuit that an Iowa trucking company fired him as a driver because he wouldn’t cut off his dreadlocks, the latest in a string of incidents across the country over what activists have called hair discrimination.
Drew Harvey, 26, of Crete, Illinois, accused Des Moines-based TMC Transportation of racism in the lawsuit filed last week in state court against the company and two of its employees. The company did not immediately respond Monday to telephone and email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Similar problems have arisen in places like Texas, where a black high school student was suspended because of his dreadlocks. And in Kansas, the American Civil Liberties Union raised concern over an elementary school that forced an 8-year-old Native American boy to cut his hair after he grew it out for cultural reasons.
In Iowa, Harvey was hired as a flatbed truck driver in June. But a day after starting orientation, his instructor told him to report to staff, where he was told his hair created a “safety issue” and that he needed to cut his dead end or be fired, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Harvey said his hair was “important to his culture and spirituality” and he offered to address the issues by trimming his hair, styling it differently, wearing it in a hair wrap or buying another hard hat.
But the lawsuit said the company told him the proposals were not acceptable. He was fired and sent home on a bus in tears, the lawsuit said.
The suit said the policy was applied inconsistently and a violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act. Harvey said that during his short time with the company, he observed several non-black male and female workers who had long hair. The suit said he was even more upset when he learned online that TMC had previously fired another black man for the same reason.
Harvey is seeking unspecified damages for lost wages and emotional distress.