Hairstyle Discrimination Banned in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County
On October 28, 2020 by Schnader in Labor and EmploymentKaren Baillie published a client alert, “Hairstyle Discrimination Banned in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.”
The City of Pittsburgh’s recently adopted “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act” took effect October 23, 2020. The ordinance prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on “hairstyle and protective and cultural hair textures and hairstyles.” Allegheny County, surrounding the City of Pittsburgh, likewise amended the county code of ordinances to include “hairstyle” as a separate protected category.
The CROWN Act gets its name from the Dove CROWN research study, conducted in 2019, which surveyed 2,000 women throughout the United States to assess how societal norms and corporate grooming policies impact Black women in the workplace. Similar legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives and has been introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Philadelphia City Council.