An Illinois man who in July filed a civil rights complaint against a Des Moines-based trucking company he says wrongfully fired him for refusing to cut off his dreadlocks is now suing the company.
Drew Harvey, 26, of Crete, Illinois, says TMC Transportation fired him on June 24 after hiring him earlier that month as a flatbed truck driver. On his second day, he says, TMC’s vice president of human resources told him he needed to cut off his locks or be terminated. The company refused to consider options like allowing him to trim or wrap his locs to avoid interfering with him wearing a hard hat, he told the Des Moines Register in July.
In his lawsuit, filed Sept. 26, Harvey, who is Black, alleges that he was told his long hair was a “safety issue.” But in his short time with TMC, he alleges, he saw non-Black male and female employees with long hair, as well as in images on the company’s social media profiles.
From April: Four employees sue Iowa Department of Corrections, alleging racial discrimination