Share Your Story: Have you ever been unemployed?

 Bernadette’s Story I want to share with you ladies a story that I hope none of you have to face in your careers. I am an African American woman of 37 years of age, and I was fired by a major transportation company here in Orlando, Fl. Why? According to the EEOC, this company violated my Title7 Civil Rights Act of 1964. Here’s my testimony: I was hired by this transportation company in June of 2011 for call center/ dispatch position within in the company. As with any other company in orientation, there was a dress code policy. It was a standard policy. I signed it, therefore meaning I was in agreement with it. A few months into my employment the hiring manager was replaced with another. Three months after he took over, the new manager choose to implement a new dress code policy. This was around the middle of November of my hiring year. I don’t sign anything without reading it thoroughly. In this new policy a hair clause was added. What was disturbing about the policy was the verbiage for one. In this policy it stated that all African American women are to report to work with their hair in a color they were born (black or brown with no dyeing) but subtle highlighting and frosting is permitted. We as African American women do not highlight or frost our hair. The policy also goes as to say no dreadlock are acceptable. Now ladies I have dreadlocks. But mine are kept in a beautiful and extra neat fashion. So neat they get mistaken for braids or extensions. I have been a dread for over ten years; my hair is below my waist. But I was hired with them and now it’s presented a problem. The policy goes on to say no head wraps are allowed. For my Islam, Rastafarian, and Muslim sisters that is a problem. They are required to adorn themselves with such. Ladies there are three violations here. Number one the dyeing issue was “not even across the board.” The dreadlocks issue is a violation of Title7 Chapter 15 where it says in affect that, “An African American cannot not be discriminated against for having their hair in a natural state.” The state which my hair is in. Thirdly, they violated religious rights with the statement ‘no head wraps permitted.’ This truly is a violation of civil rights. When asked to sign this policy, I refused. I was asked to sign it on December 22, 2011. But the policy didn’t go into effect until January 2, 2012. I refused. And I explained why I refused in a professional manner, pointing out how bias it was. Management wanted me to resign since I refused to sign. But I refused them (he and his assistant) to further insult my intelligence, so I refused to sign a resignation. So he fired me on the spot. This is considered retaliation. I have since been depressed and stressed out because of being fired, because without the income things fall apart rapidly. I wanted to share this with you ladies. Any questions or comments or advice, feel free to email me!! Thank You!   Sincerely, Bernadette