Elijah Obeng, a former In-N-Out employee, is suing the California burger chain, alleging that it discriminated against him and terminated him because of his natural hair.
According to his lawsuit, Obeng is accusing the restaurant chain of inflicting damages such as emotional distress, reputational harm, and loss of employment, for which he is seeking $3 million in damages and $200,000 in back pay or otherwise lost earnings.
According to USA Today, Obeng’s lawsuit details that he started working for the company in 2020, after his high school graduation, and worked for the company until 2024, when he was fired.
Originally, Obeng had natural hair when he first went to work for the company, and as his hair got longer, he was told by management either to cut it or manage it in such a way as to fit underneath his uniform hat, required to work in the restaurant. Obeng complied, wearing his hair in braids, but management then moved the goalposts, telling him that he now had to trim his sideburns, which he believed was “humiliating and discriminatory.”
After he refused to trim or cut his sideburns, Obeng’s lawsuit states that he was then subjected to treatment that was different from other employees for minor infractions, such as missing work meetings, which, he alleges, other employees did not face.
Although the In-N-Out grooming and uniform policy isn’t available to the public online, according to Indeed forums, male workers must arrive clean-shaven, with no facial hair.
On May 24, 2024, Obeng clocked in for his final shift, because after he arrived, he was told to go home, shave his sideburns, and then he could return; but instead of this, he texted his supervisor that he would return for his next shift, but there would be no next shift because he was fired a few days later.
In-N-Out would portray his firing as one carried out due to prior write-ups, per court documents, but Obeng contends that it was due to his “ancestry, color and race, including his natural hairstyle and hair texture.”
Obeng also contends that In-N-Out has broken California’s version of the CROWN Act, which was one of the first states to pass their own law regarding protecting Black students and workers from discrimination due to their hairstyles.
In 2022, after the CROWN Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, Damon Hewitt, the president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, urged the Senate to pass their own version of the bill to protect Black Americans from discrimination based on their hairstyles at schools and workplaces.
In February 2025, during Black History Month, Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Susan Collins (R-ME) reintroduced the act for the Senate to vote on.
In the reintroduction of the CROWN Act, Sen. Booker called on the federal government to protect Black people from prejudice and bias.
“Everyone, regardless of their race or background, should be able to show up every day to school or work or life and embrace their racial identity without fear of prejudice or bias. Numerous states have already enacted legislation to prohibit hair discrimination, and the CROWN Act is a bipartisan federal effort to ensure that Black people can wear their hair freely in a natural or protective hairstyle,” Sen. Booker stated.
In her comments, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who led the House’s effort to pass their version of the bill, noted that versions of the act had already passed in more than half of the legislative state houses in the United States.
“We cannot control the way our hair grows out of our head any more than we can control the color of our skin. Discrimination against hair texture is racial discrimination, plain and simple. Nobody deserves to be denied the opportunity to thrive in the workplace, excel in school, or contribute their talents to the world simply because of their hair. I’m proud to reintroduce this legislation with my House colleagues and Senator Booker. I strongly encourage House leadership to take up this bill, which has passed in 27 states, led by both Republican and Democratic governments,” Rep. Watson Coleman said.
RELATED CONTENT: WEPA! Puerto Rico Bans Discrimination Against Natural Hairstyles with New Legislation
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