Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights!
That’s just what Bobby T. Brown of Western Massachusetts (not to be confused with Bobby Brown of Roxbury, and later New Edition, followed by husband of Whitney Houston fame) did in bringing Jiffy Lube to court after it implemented a grooming policy requiring employees who came into contact with customers to be clean-shaven.
Brown, who is a Rastafarian, asserted that the policy made him a victim of religious discrimination since his faith does not allow him to cut or shave his hair. He was relegated to a position at Jiffy Lube where he would not come into contact with customers.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with Brown, holding that accommodating his religious practices would not be an undue hardship to Jiffy Lube. According to The Boston Globe:
The court warned if employers are allowed to cite their “public image” in determining who deals with customers, they might lean toward tolerating the religious practices of majority groups, while forbidding practices that are less widespread.
“Requiring proof of undue hardship protects against the misuse of ‘public image,’ and is consistent with the requirement that the statute be construed liberally to accomplish its ends,” the court said.
This makes sense. For instance, analogously, could an employer force an Orthodox Jewish employee who wears a yarmulke to work in the back room because it has a ”no hats” policy? I use this example, unfortunately, because religious discrimination examples hit home with more force to the American public when they involve more mainstream groups.
Like myself, Brown’s lawyer, Joel Feldman, was a former staff attorney in the housing unit at Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts. Way to go, Joel! Claire Thompson, the attorney for Jiffy Lube, said, “It feels like a decision that’s very anti-business.” No, how about it’s pro-civil rights.
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