EEOC Says TSA Failed To Accommodate Rastafarian's Dreadlocks

In a decision last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the Transportation Security Administration violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act when it failed to accommodate the need of a Rastafarian baggage screener at Boston's Logan Airport to wear long hair. TSA reprimanded the employee and threatened to exclude him from promotions or dismiss him for violating TSA grooming standards. In Brissot v. Napolitano, (EEOC, Nov. 12, 2009), an Administrative Judge in an interim decision concluded that the TSA failed to make a good faith effort to find ways to permit the employee to continue to wear his long dreadlocks as required by his religious beliefs. An ACLU press release says that a hearing on the amount of damages to be awarded in the case will be held in February 2010.