§ 2-08 Prohibition on Hair Discrimination Based on Race and Religion.
RCNY § 2-08
(a)Disparate Treatment Based on Race with Respect to Hair Textures, Hairstyles or Hair Length.
(1)A covered entity that restricts or prohibits hair texture, hairstyles, including the use of headcoverings, or hair length associated with a racial or ethnic group or that engages in unequal treatment, including harassment, on the basis of an individual's hair texture, hairstyle, including the use of a headcovering, or hair length associated with a racial or ethnic group, is engaging in race discrimination in violation of § 8-107 of the Administrative Code, unless the restriction or prohibition addresses a legitimate health or safety concern. It is not a defense that a restriction or prohibition is based on customer preference or based on a perception that a person's hair is "unprofessional," a "distraction," or inconsistent with a covered entity's image. Speculative health or safety concerns may not be used as a pretext for racial discrimination. In assessing whether a restriction or prohibition constitutes pretext for discrimination or is based on legitimate health or safety concerns, the Commission will consider, among other factors, the nature of the articulated health or safety concern; whether the restriction or prohibition is narrowly tailored to address the concern; the availability of alternatives to the restriction or prohibition; and whether the restriction or prohibition has been applied in a discriminatory manner. Where a restriction or prohibition is premised on legitimate health or safety concerns, covered entities must consider, in good faith, alternatives including hair ties, hair nets, other headcoverings, and alternative safety equipment that can accommodate different hair textures, hairstyles, headcoverings, or hair lengths.
(2)Examples of violations include: i. An employer's appearance and grooming policy prohibiting twists, locs, braids, cornrows, Afros, Bantu knots, or fades, which are commonly associated with Black people, or requiring employees to change their hair to conform to the company's appearance standards, including having to straighten or relax hair. ii. A supervisor telling a Black employee that she cannot be promoted unless she straightens her natural hair. iii. Co-workers taunting an Afro-Caribbean woman as being "unkempt" and "dirty" because she wears her hair in cornrows, and the employer failing to intervene to stop the harassment. iv. An appearance code at a school banning students' hair that extends a certain number of inches above the scalp, thereby negatively impacting students who wear hairstyles such as Afros. v. Requiring a Native American employee to cut his long, braided hair, which he wears as part of his Navajo identity, or risk losing his job. vi. Denying a Black employee with locs the opportunity to work in a customer-facing role unless he changes his hairstyle or hides his locs. vii. Refusing to hire a Black applicant with box braids because her hairstyle does not fit the image the employer is trying to project. viii. A school policy prohibiting braids, locs, and head wraps. ix. An athletic association prohibiting a Black student athlete with locs from participating in an athletic competition because his hair is below his shoulders, but allowing white student athletes with long hair to tie their hair up. x. A restaurant that refuses to seat a Black customer who wears a headscarf over her Afro because it violates the restaurant's dress code.
(b)Disparate Treatment Based on Religion With Respect to Hair Textures, Hairstyles, Hair, or Length.
(3)Examples of violations include: i. An employer refusing to grant an exception to the company's grooming policy to a job applicant who maintains uncut hair for religious reasons, despite the absence of an undue hardship. ii. An employer rejects a job applicant who wears a beard for religious reasons because the job requires use of a gas mask or other personal protective equipment ("P.P.E.") that does not provide adequate protection for persons wearing beards. However, the employer, without incurring undue hardship, could have provided an effective alternative for the gas mask or P.P.E. iii. An employer or agent of an employer who, despite the absence of an undue hardship, fails to provide or to consider providing alternatives to a required hair-based drug test as a reasonable accommodation for employees who are unable to provide a live hair sample for religious reasons. iv. An employer or agent of an employer who submits an individual's name to an employment or licensing database as a drug screening failure based on the individual's refusal to submit to hair-based drug testing for religious reasons. v. An employer refusing to allow a Muslim employee to grow a beard during Ramadan, as an exception to a general grooming policy, despite the absence of an undue hardship. vi. An employer conditioning permission for an employee to wear religious headwear at work on the employee adding the company logo to the religious headwear, despite the employee's religious objections and the absence of an undue hardship on the employer. (Added City Record 12/31/2020, eff. 1/30/2021)
