As of July 1st Tennessee joined the states that prohibit discrimination based on an employee’s natural hairstyle. The General Assembly passed the CROWN Act- Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair.
The CROWN Act prohibits private employers from adopting policies or practices that restrict or ban employees from wearing ethnic hairstyles within the workplace, including braids, locs, twists, bantu knots, or other hairstyles that are part of the cultural identification of or physical characteristic of the employee’s ethnic group. Tennessee is the first state in the South to make the CROWN Act law.
Employers should review their Equal Employment Opportunity, Grooming, Dress Code and Uniform Policies and revise them as needed to ensure compliance with this new law.
Tennessee Employment Law 