Discrimination not accepted anywhere In the world.

Black employee claims Zara discriminated against her braid hairstyle

Cree Ballah, 20, had tied up her hair in box braids which were gathered at the back.

When she turned up for work at a Zara store near Scarborough town centre, in Toronto, she was asked to take out her hair because it wasn’t the ‘clean professional look’ they strive for. Cree said: ‘They took me outside of the store and they said, “We’re not trying to offend you, but we’re going for a clean professional look with Zara and the hairstyle you have now is not the look for Zara”.’

She claims the incident occurred in a busy mall in front of other employees and left her feeling humiliated.

My hair type is also linked to my race, so to me, I felt like it was direct discrimination against my ethnicity in the sense of what comes along with it.

‘My hair type is out of my control and I try to control it to the best of my ability, which wasn’t up to standard for Zara,’ added Cree, who identifies as bi-racial. She later logged a discrimination complaint with Zara’s human resources department. Canadian site CBC claim Zara ‘engaged directly with the employee on this matter and respect the privacy of those discussions’.

The statement adds that the firm is diverse, multicultural and does not tolerate discrimination. The firm has no policy regarding staff hairstyles, just that they look professional.