A Black worker has filed a lawsuit against an Iowa-based trucking company, alleging the business fired him this past summer over his locs.
According to a court document filed on Thursday, Sept. 26, in Iowa District Court for Polk County, Drew Harvey, 26, applied for a position as a flat-bed truck driver with TMC Transportation on June 4. Eleven days later, TMC invited him to begin orientation on June 24, which required Harvey to travel from his home in Crete, Ill., to the company’s headquarters in Des Moines.
The next day after the orientation, per the complaint reviewed by PEOPLE, Harvey was called in to meet TMC’s human resources representative. He was told that “he needed to cut his hair “or be fired,” and that his hair was a ‘safety issue.’ “
“This was the first time Plaintiff had ever heard of a hair policy or that there was an issue with Plaintiff’s appearance,” the complaint stated.
Per the complaint, Harvey offered to trim or style his hair in a different way, wear his hair in a wrap or buy a different hard hat so that safety wouldn’t be an issue. He further told TMC’s human resources representative that his hair was important to his “culture and spirituality.”
However, according to the complaint, the company said that Harvey’s proposals were unacceptable and terminated his employment. He was then “fired and sent home on a bus in tears.”
In the complaint filed with the district court, Harvey said that during his brief time with the company, he saw other non-Black employees — male and female — who wore their hair long. He also noticed that the company had earlier fired a Black male employee for the same reason.
“TMC’s policy is racist and inconsistently enforced,” Harvey’s complaint alleged.
In the complaint, Harvey accused TMC of subjecting him to harassment and racial discrimination, stating: “As a result of Defendants’ illegal acts and omissions, Plaintiff has in the past and will in the future suffer injuries and damages, including but not limited to emotional distress, lost wages, loss of benefits, loss of future earnings, and other emoluments of employment.”
In an interview with PEOPLE, Benjamin Lynch, Harvey’s attorney, said his client was hurt by what happened and is currently looking for work.
“That petition says that he literally cried on the way home,” Lynch says. “That is a true statement, that he was very upset by this. He drove six hours to come here and he got canned on the second day because of his hair. So he’s upset. It’s a real thing and we haven’t really gotten any resolution on it because I’ve just yet to hear back from TMC. So it’s troubling.”
Per CBS affiliate KCCI, Lynch previously represented Damon Mitchell, a Black worker who allegedly experienced a situation similar to Harvey’s at TMC Transportation and sued the company in 2021. Lynch tells PEOPLE that he couldn’t comment about that case because he is bound by a confidentiality clause.
“And I will tell you that since this stuff went public on the second time, I’ve had over a dozen current former TMC employees call me with the same story,” Lynch alleges. “So in addition to him [Harvey] wanting resolution on his matter, he also wants to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
According to the complaint, Harvey is seeking judgment against TMC “in an amount that will fully and fairly compensate him for his injuries and damages,” attorney’s fees and “for appropriate equitable and injunctive relief.”
Per the company’s website, TMC Transportation was founded in 1972 by Harrold Annett. Its mission is to be “recognized as the standard-bearer of quality performance in flatbed transportation.”
