Discrimination | Fast-food worker with blonde braids sent home for having 'unnatural' hair

A 16-year-old black fast-food worker was sent home after being accused of having ‘unnatural’ hair, on the grounds the hairstyle went against company policy.

Autumn Williams was sent home after being told by her manager that her blonde braids was an ‘unnatural’, forcing her mum to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Williams said that although her hair was styled differently during an orientation at the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, the only guidance she was given around hair was that it needed to be out of her face, a rule she felt was reasonable.

But after undergoing a new hairstyle, her manager asked to speak with Williams in private, reportedly saying: “'Our supervisor drove by yesterday and noticed blonde in your hair and since blonde is an unnatural colour to you, we ask that you take the blonde out of your hair and then come back when there's none'.”