A Roanoke, Va.-based moving company will pay $30,000 as part of a settlement with a Waynesboro-area man who says he was denied a job because he wouldn’t cut his long, dreadlocked hair.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit last year against Lawrence Transportation Systems on behalf of Christopher Woodson, who grows his hair as a Rastafarian religious expression. Woodson claimed the company denied him a job as a loader at its Waynesboro facility in May 2008.
Under a settlement, the company also agreed to implement anti-discrimination policies and training and post notices at its work sites on planned compliance.
Lawrence Transportation President Ron Spangler said that the case is an example of heavy-handed government enforcement and that the company’s expenses for the case likely exceeded $400,000.
EEOC’s release announcing the settlement included a statement from Woodson that the decision is “validation that the American dream still exists and that one’s faith does not have to hold a person back from working in a job that he is qualified to perform.”
Topics Virginia
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Tesla Door Safety Issues Have Owners Buying Car Escape Tools 
Aon Adds to List of Brokers Suing Howden US for Alleged Poaching, Theft 
Court Ruling Could Help Shed Light on Owners of Litigation Funders, Medical Clinics 
Brown & Brown Files Suit Over Alleged Howden Poaching of 200+ Employees 
