Wear ‘conservative hairstyle’ – Trinidad News

Wear ‘conservative hairstyle’ Sunday, August 14 2016

A firestorm erupted on social media yesterday over an insurance company’s warning to a young black male employee over his shortcropped dreadlocks.

Many postings on the company’s Facebook page accused the management of discrimination, prejudice, and even racism. The story surfaced last Friday when the employee posted a copy of the letter he received that same day issued by the company’s Human Resource Manager saying his hair did not conform to its dress code for “conservative hairstyles.” “I refer to our uniform and Dress Code Policy Section 8, which states that hairstyles and hair colours must be conservative. Hair should be kept clean and well groomed.

This letter serves as a final warning and we expect immediate and sustained improvement in your professional grooming. Kindly note that you are expected to report to work on Monday 15th August in keeping with our Uniform and Dress Code policy,” it read. The employee and company’s names are being withheld as Sunday Newsday was unable to reach either party on the matter.

The employee posted a photograph of himself in which he is wearing a long sleeved shirt and tie, with his hairline shaven and “marked”, with his locks short, resembling corkscrews.

The caption for the photo of the letter stated, “Look what I received in work today.” Since the genesis of the firestorm, the post on the employee’s profile has been removed.

Pearce Robinson, founder of the group “Speak out TnT,” posted a letter from the group’s page which he wrote to the insurance company’s Chief Organisation Officer and Executive Director.

The post outlined the fact that the company’s letter to the employee “contained a myriad of stereo-typical assumptions which are grounded in colonialism and racism about the style of your employee’s hair.

This letter is an affront to all right-thinking citizens and adds to a struggle that many black women and indeed men across the world face when it comes to the identity as espoused by their natural hair.” Some comments by users in the comments thread of the company’s page which may have been viewed as borderline offensive by the company have been removed.

One user’s post stated, “You all should be ashamed in 2016 to call that man’s hairstyle unacceptable! Its discrimination at its fullest!” “Apparently you need to have good hair and conform to archaic, Colonial (European/white) ideals of grooming and aesthetics in order to get a card. #JustNo #Keep- AllyuhCard #IKeeping- MyHair,” was posted by another user, referring to a customer benefits card given out by the insurance company.

Users appeared to be aware of the implications that the company’s action can have as they made made references to cases of discrimination that have been successful in court locally.

from Hairstylez http://cityhairstyle.xyz/wear-conservative-hairstyle-trinidad-news/