Locked out

A student who completed training at the HEART/NSTA Trust is accusing Hotel RIU Palace Aquarelle resort in Trelawny of discrimination after he was excluded from participating in work experience at the hotel because of his dreadlocked hairstyle.

The student, who requested to remain anonymous, informed The Gleaner that he successfully completed an initial interview at the hotel. However, weeks later, he and other students were asked to submit specific documents before starting their apprenticeship.

On the day, the student said he wore his dreadlocks hairstyle neatly concealed under a tam-o’-shanter, commonly known in Jamaica as a ‘tam’.

He said that he was asked to remove his tam by human resource personnel, who expressed shock at the length of his hair, informing him that it was against the hotel’s policy.

During the initial interview, the student said that male participants were told that no braided hair was allowed for men, but at the time, it was not made clear that this would also include dreadlocks.

He said the matter was escalated to the human resource management, who informed him that they would notify him of their decision the following day.

Deflated, he went home, but the anxious youngster said he made a call to the hotel later that same day to enquire if an early decision was made.

When he was told that they would not accept him, the budding chef said he was left deflated.

“Everybody had an expectation … . Everybody [was] excited and seh just mek sure yuh work hard,” he said, noting that his plan was to get enough experience and eventually open his own restaurant.

The student said that although he is not Rastafarian, he has always admired and even practised some aspects of that culture. He said he had dreadlocks as a child, but while attending primary school, he was instructed to cut it off as the hairstyle was against school policy.

His mother, who also sports the hairstyle, told him at the time that he could decide whether he wanted to grow dreadlocks when he became an adult.

He restarted growing his dreadlocks in 2021, but said he had even considered cutting it off or adjusting the style to secure this work experience.

Meanwhile, the student’s stepfather is irate at RIU’s hair policy and is blasting the hotel for deriding a practice it benefits from.

“I didn’t think that in Jamaica, especially in our tourism industry that uses Rastafari to promote tourism, he would be faced with this kind of situation,” the stepfather said.

However, in an emailed response to The Gleaner, RIU reiterated its internal policy of no braided hair for its male employees, but did not respond to queries of whether this also applied to female employees. It stated that members of the entertainment department are exempted from this policy “due to the nature of their task”.

Turning to this particular case, RIU said the student “did not comply with personal image and dress code standards”, and that he was informed by human resource representatives that his “hair was not in accordance with the company’s policy”.

“At no time did the student declare he was Rastafarian,” RIU said.

The hotel chain, which operates more than 4,000 rooms on the island, said it does not deny employment to prospective employees because of religion or medical issues.

“This implies that RIU’s policy is to respect Rastafarians, and, therefore, there are Rastafarians employed in the chain,” it said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com