New Jersey Man Disciplined for Dreadlocks Can Sue for Religious Discrimination

According to a New Jersey appellate court, a Rastafarian corrections officer subjected to disciplinary action and facing termination of his employment for refusing to cut his dreadlocks may proceed to trial with a religious discrimination claim. In Hicks v. Hudson County Corr. Ctr., N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div., No. A-2407-05T3, 8/29/07, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey noted that the correctional center, which argued that its hair length policy for male employees was necessary for safety reasons, failed to adequately explain why it did not permit male employees to pin or twist their hair rather than cut it when it allowed female employees to do so.

Jevon Hicks began working as a corrections officer at the Hudson County Correctional Center (the "Center") in Kearny, New Jersey in 1994. In 2001, the Center adopted a policy prohibiting male corrections officers from wearing their hair below collar length. Hicks, a Rastafarian who wore his hair in long dreadlocks, was initially allowed to comply with the hair length rule by tying his hair into a bun.

On November 1, 2004, however, the Center revised its grooming policy and began prohibiting male employees from pining or twisting their hair to satisfy the hair length requirement. The Center continued to permit female employees to pin or twist their hair to comply with the applicable hair standards.

Despite the revised policy, Hicks refused to cut his hair, asserting that cutting his hair would violate his religion. As a result, the Center subjected Hicks to progressive disciplinary action and possible termination of employment.

Hicks filed suit against the Center in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hudson County, on September 20, 2005, arguing that the Center violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 to 42, by enforcing a grooming policy that would force him to violate his religious beliefs. Hicks certified that he was a practicing Rastafarian and that wearing long hair and dreadlocks were vital tenets of his religion.