The CROWN Act: 3 Key Steps for Compliance   

Is your company prepared for compliance with the CROWN Act? Employers in all 50 states should be prepared to comply with the CROWN Act or similar local legislation focused on race-based hair discrimination.  Even if they haven’t passed the CROWN Act or similar legislation, a significant number of the United States have added natural hairstyles, as well as hair texture and protective hairstyles as protected classes.  This type of action will prohibit discrimination based on ethnic hair texture and hairstyle, especially racial discrimination.  Additionally, as many employers embrace remote work options, they become subject to the CROWN Act (or similar state legislation) in the locations where they have workers.  MP’s HR experts share three steps organizations should take to ensure compliance with the CROWN Act and similar laws. 

3 Key Steps to Ensure CROWN ACT Compliance  

1. Understand the CROWN Act and review relevant local legislation. 

The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act is a law focused on protection against discrimination.  The house of representatives recently passed it, which means it now must be approved by the senate and president to be signed into law on a federal level.  This law and its contemporaries respond to dress and grooming policies that unfairly target black hairstyles of employees and job applicants (including afros, braids, bantu knots, twists, locs, etc.).  Employers may no longer ban these hairstyles or base hiring and employment decisions on them.  Through racist roots, organizations have designated these hairstyles as “unprofessional” for decades. Eighteen states already have their own version of the CROWN Act to fight discrimination in the workplace, including: 

• California 
• Colorado 
• Connecticut 
• Delaware 
• Illinois 
• Maine 
• Maryland 
• Massachusetts 
• Nebraska 
• Nevada 
• New Jersey
• New Mexico 
• New York 
• Oregon 
• Virginia 
• Washington 
• Tennessee 
• The U.S. Virgin Islands 

Employers should work with HR experts or employment lawyers to survey any applicable CROWN or hairstyle discrimination laws.  They may also find their state has added natural hairstyles as a protected class.  If employers allow remote work, they will be subject to varying laws in different states.  It’s advisable to comply with all these laws, even if the company headquarters isn’t subject to any of them.  If the CROWN Act is passed into federal law, the employer may need to be ready to comply soon, anyways—even if they’re not currently subject to any hair discrimination legislation. 
 

2. Review and update employee policies for grooming, health and safety, and dress codes. 

All these types of policies may use language that may unintentionally discriminate against black people (often especially black women) who wear natural hairstyles. Employers should work with HR experts, like the ones at MP, to review and update all policies to ensure they: 

• require non-discriminatory health and safety measures, such as hairnets or hair ties (which accommodate various hair textures and styles).  
• are applied consistently to employees throughout the organization. 
• are clearly connected to business reasons 
• don’t single out texture and hairstyles that express racial, ethnic, religious, and gender identities.   
• don’t require employees to alter the state of their hair to conform to appearance standards (i.e., chemical relaxers, heat, etc.). 
• don’t ban hair that extends a specific number of inches from the scalp, which often limits afros. 
• don’t restrict employees or job applicants for customer-facing roles based on hairstyle.  
   

3. Deliver optimal trainings to support compliance.

After updating policies, employers must train (or re-train) their managers to ensure the policies are implemented and enforced correctly.  It’s also vital for these policies to be applied equally to every employee at every level.  Only enforcing the policies for some employees, or some departments, will create discrimination concerns—perhaps even trigger complaints or legal action. Additionally, the organization should train anybody involved in the hiring process on these new policies.  It’s critical that job candidates and employees are protected from discrimination based on natural hairstyles.  Lastly, employers should also deliver unconscious bias and diversity trainings to all employees and managers yearly.  This practice will generally support a more inclusive work environment.