On March 6, 2020, Governor Jared Polis signed the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2020 (CROWN Act) into law. When Colorado’s Governor signed the document, Colorado became just the fifth state in the nation to pass this civil rights legislation; Colorado joined California, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia as states that prohibit “race discrimination on the basis of hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles.”
As the Legislative Declaration section of the Act describes, the Act’s intent is to protect individuals from bias, stereotypes, and discrimination brought by hairstyles historically linked with “people of African descent, as well as people of Jewish, Latinx, or Native American descent.” The Act further holds that the State “must play a key role” in enforcing anti-discrimination laws and upholding equality of opportunity for all Coloradoans, before extending the State’s anti-discrimination provisions to include hairstyles.
The CROWN Act takes effect on August 5, 2020, in Colorado, and establishes that “for purposes of anti-discrimination laws in the context of public education, employment practices, housing, public accommodations, and advertising, protections against discrimination on the basis of one’s race includes traits historically associated with race, such as include hair texture, hair type, and or a protective hairstyles hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race, such as braids, locs, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, Bantu knots, Afros, and headwraps.”
The Colorado Springs employment law attorneys at Sears & Associates, P.C. are here to help you understand your CROWN Act rights and responsibilities. Call us today to schedule an appointment with a Colorado employment law attorney: 719-471-1984.
