Movie Theater Changes Dreadlock Policy After Sending Teen Home on 1st Day of Work

Marcus Country Club Hills Cinema in Illinois had a change of heart after a teenager wasn’t allowed to start her first day of work because of its ban on dreadlocks.

By: Yesha Callahan

Tyler House Video Screenshot

Just weeks after a federal appeals court sided with an Alabama company and gave it permission to discriminate against hiring someone because of their dreadlocks, one company in Illinois is actually changing its policy in order to allow dreadlocks on the job. And it’s all because of one teenager and her fight against hair discrimination.

Sixteen-year-old Tyler House was offered a job at Marcus Country Club Hills Cinema after going through the interview process. Tyler was pretty excited about starting her new job, until her first day at work, when she met her manager.

“He called my name and brought me to the hallway and said, ‘Dreads are not allowed,’” said Tyler.

“Why is it that dreadlocks are not permitted in your employees, but it’s OK for us to spend our dreadlock money in your company? I don`t understand. They come to an African-American neighborhood but they discriminate against some of us. I don`t understand it,” said Tyler’s mother, Darnetta Herring.

Tyler says she was a bit confused because she had the style when she interviewed for the job,and wasn’t told anything about the anti-dreadlock policy.

The Country Club Hills, Ill., movie theater had a policy against dreadlocks, but that was before Tyler and her sister, who posted about the incident on Facebook, made the company rethink its position.

The theater released a statement to WGN news about its policy change: