An Illinois man claims that he was fired from an Iowa-based trucking company over an issue that we shouldn’t even be talking about in the big year of 2024.
Drew Harvey, 26, filed a civil rights complaint for discrimination, claiming that TMC Transportation in Des Moines let him go over his locs. Harvey told the Des Moines Register that he started training with TMC on June 24. However, on the second day, he was let go.
“I was one of the top performers...I was thinking my instructor might be giving me a little bit of praise for doing a good job,” Harvey stated. “I was getting ready to walk into the classroom and he stopped me and said, ‘You need to go talk to HR before stepping into the classroom.’”
Harvey said he was given a choice: cut off his locs or lose his new job. “I was talking to the vice president of HR, and he basically tells me, ‘You need to either buzz cut by Friday or you cannot continue employment with us,’” Harvey explained.
He said that the company was worried that his hard hat wouldn’t fit over his locs. However, Harvey offered to trim his hair or wrap the locs so they would fulfill the company’s standards and fit into the hard hat that workers are required to wear.
Harvey believed his locs actually made the hard hat fit more securely on his head. “I’ve seen multiple people of my skin color and my different hair types conduct their job more than efficiently with a hard hat—so go figure.”
He also explained the significance on his hairstyle.
“Being an African American, and just understanding where my people are from, our hair is very deeply tied to our spirituality as well as our moral beliefs. I have not cut my hair since the day my father passed away four years ago...My dad would braid it up for me.”
Harvey has since hired Harvey civil rights attorney Ben Lynch. TMC was also accused of racial discrimination in 2021 by Damon Mitchell, who said he, too, was terminated for having locs. Mitchell eventually reached an agreement with the company.