Colorado Takes One Step Towards Outlawing Discrimination Based on Hairstyle
On February 11, 2020, the Colorado House of Representatives passed a bill extending existing laws prohibiting discrimination based on race and ethnicity to explicitly cover hairstyles.FN1 The CROWN Act or “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is modeled after laws already in effect in California, New York, and New Jersey,FN2 and it specifies that protections against discrimination on the basis of one’s race includes “traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles.”FN1. The bill is expected to move on to the Senate next week.
If passed, the Colorado CROWN Act would extend state anti-discrimination laws by prohibiting employers or public entities from making decisions on the basis of an individual’s hairstyle in the context of public education, employment practices, housing, public accommodations, and advertising. The Act defines “race” to include “hair texture, hair type, or a protective hairstyle that is commonly or historically associated with race,” and further defines “protective hairstyle” to include hairstyles such as “braids, locs, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, bantu knots, afros, and headwraps.”FN1 The Act’s stated purpose is to establish clear, consistent and enforceable legal standards to address discrimination against people who have been systemically deprived of educational and employment opportunities because of their hairstyles and associated stereotypes.
Takeaway
While employers will still be able to create and enforce business-related grooming policies, employers in Colorado should review their policies to ensure they do not prohibit hairstyles that are considered to be historically associated with race and/or have a disproportionate impact and burden on employees of color.
Footnotes:
FN1: See House Bill 20-1048, https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2020A/bills/2020a_1048_ren.pdf
FN2: CROWN Act, Bill To Outlaw Discrimination Based on Ethnic Hairstyle, Moving Through
Colorado Legislature, Denver CBS4 (February 11, 2020), https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/02/11/crown-act-colorado-outlaw-discrimination-ethnic-hairstyle/; see our previous blog post, “California and New York Ban Employment Discrimination Based on Natural Hairstyles,” (September 12, 2019), https://www.rockymountainemployersblog.com/blog/2019/9/12/california-and-new-york-ban-employment-discrimination-based-on-natural-hairstyles