‘Not Cutting My Hair for Nobody’: Black Ohio Car Salesman Was Given An Ultimatum After His Locs Were Supposedly ‘Getting Out of Control’ So He Filed Discrimination Lawsuit and Won
A Black man who filed a civil rights complaint against the Akron car dealership where he worked for racially discriminating against him because of his hairstyle won his case with the Akron Civil Rights Commission last week.
The commission unanimously decided that VanDevere Chevrolet violated the CROWN (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act amendment passed by the Akron City Council in 2020, which prohibits discrimination based on hairstyles and textures in workplaces and schools.
When Selekeh Korleh, now 29, started working as a sales consultant at the dealership in October of 2022, his hair was styled in short locs, and usually covered by a hat, he said in his complaint. As his locs grew longer, he attached beads and shells to his hair and stopped wearing the hat.
In July of 2023, a sales manager told Korleh that his hair was unprofessional and “getting out of control” and that he needed to wear a hat during his shifts, the complaint says.
Around that time, Korleh said he began to be singled out in meetings and his sales numbers dropped as managers made it more difficult for him to close car deals by lowballing offers on trade-ins, not offering discounts to his customers and taking an unusually long time preparing paperwork and financing, reported the Akron Beacon Journal.
Korleh went to discuss the issue with general manager Brian VanDevere, who told him his hairstyle violated the company’s personal appearance policy.
The company’s dress code then stated, “Proper dress and good grooming and hygiene contribute to the morale of all associates and affect the business image we present to our customers and the community. You are expected to maintain a high standard of grooming and to present a professional and businesslike appearance consistent with the duties and responsibilities of your position. Extremes of any style are not permissible. No unnatural hair colors are permitted.”
VanDevere gave Korleh an ultimatum: if he wanted to remain employed he could either wear a hat, cut his hair or switch to a non-customer-facing job such as a lot porter, lube technician or detailer. The complaint said those positions all paid less than his sales job.
Korleh refused to accept those terms, which he said meant “stripping him of his identity,” and left the dealership.
“I’m not cutting my hair for nobody,” he told the Beacon Journal. “Nobody has to feel the way I felt.”
Ten days later, VanDevere backpedaled, leaving Korleh a voicemail saying that he was unaware of the law allowing Korleh to wear his hair “in any way that he want[s],” according to the commission decision, and offered to reinstate his position with compensation for the time he was out of work.
Korleh ignored the voicemail, didn’t come back to work, and filed his civil rights complaint with the commission on Sept. 7, 2023.
“I felt like it was time for me to stand my ground,” Korleh said.
At a hearing before the commission in October of 2024, attorney Brian R. Borla, representing VanDevere, said the company only took issue with Otolo’s hair “after his dreads became longer” and he added beads and shells into his natural hair. “He was asked to make it neat again. Asked to remove the shells. Remove the beads.”
Borla said the dealership had a longstanding grooming policy for the sales floor, which “requires a high standard of grooming … VanDevere wants its appearance to be professional,” noting that the city of Akron also requires its police officers’ hair to be neat and trimmed.
Mike VanDevere, president of the auto group, testified that the dealership’s personal grooming rules were in place long before Akron’s hair discrimination ordinance was passed, and company officials were not aware their policy was in conflict with it when reprimanding Korleh.
In its decision, the commission found that VanDevere subjected Korleh to unlawful discrimination and effectively discharged him on the basis of race by demanding that he cut his locks or cover them in order to continue his employment.
It ordered the dealership to pay $850 to Korleh for back pay for the 10-day period between the end of his employment and when the general manager offered to hire him back; $2,550 for injury, including humiliation and embarrassment; attorney’s fees; and $1,000 as a civil penalty payable to the civil rights commission.
The commission also ordered VanDevere to stop its discriminatory practices.
VanDevere Automotive released a statement last week that said, in part:
“We have always prided ourselves on fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace for all employees. For nearly 80 years, our family-owned business has been deeply committed to treating every member of our team with fairness, dignity and respect.
We regret that a former employee felt that our actions were discriminatory when we asked him to make his hairstyle neater and more tidy. That was our only intent. When we became aware of the employee’s concerns, we took immediate steps to address them by telling Mr. Korleh that no changes to his hairstyle were necessary, asking him to come back and offering him back pay for any time missed. In fact, we made that offer numerous times, but we never received a reply to our offers. Instead, as was his legal right, he decided to file a complaint with the Akron Civil Rights Commission.
We recognize that the workplace is evolving, and we are committed to ensuring that our policies align with the values of inclusivity and respect that have always been central to our company.
While we are disappointed in the outcome of the Akron Civil Rights Commission’s decision, we respect the process. Moving forward, we will take this opportunity to reinforce our commitment to fairness, ensuring that every employee at VanDevere feels valued and respected.”
Akron attorney Imokhai Otolo, who represented Otolo, told Atlanta Black Star, “We don’t believe they were genuine in that apology,” noting that his client was not asked to make his hair “more neat and tidy,” but to “cut it off, hide it, or hide himself from public view.”
One person on Facebook found VanDevere’s statement “tacky and tone deaf,” commenting, “Take accountability — you guys were wrong, period. … Don’t try to save face now cuz y’all lost that lawsuit.”
Korleh said after two years of litigation, that a weight had been lifted. “This is just reassurance that I was right,” he told News5Cleveland.
Korleh is now working at another Akron auto dealership, “where he is more successful making more money than he ever did at VanDevere,” said Otolo.
The legal battle “was never about the money for him,” said Otolo. “It’s about validating that this is still happening, and righting a wrong, for himself and for the community.”
Otolo said his client hopes the outcome of his case will have a positive influence on legislation to codify the CROWN Act statewide, currently pending in the Ohio Senate. “He’s willing to testify to push Ohio to address this issue, so it doesn’t happen to somebody else,” he said. “The fight is not over.”
The first version of the CROWN Act was signed into law in 2019 in California, and 27 states have passed similar legislation since, noted SignalAkron. Ohio has not yet joined them, but Akron is among cities such as Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland Heights that have enacted the legislation.
A federal version of the legislation was passed by the House of Representatives in 2022, but was not voted on by the Senate. In 2024, it was reintroduced by New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker but did not move out of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote.