São Paulo court orders compensation for Black worker forced to cut hair and beard

A labor court in São Paulo has ordered a supermarket and a service provider to pay R$ 20,000 in moral damages to a Black store inspector who was forced to cut his hair and shave his beard to meet aesthetic standards.

Judge Marcele Carine dos Praseres Soares recognized the indirect termination of the employment contract, effectively a dismissal for cause against the employer. The court found that the requirements lacked any sanitary or hygienic justification and instead constituted aesthetic discrimination and an abuse of managerial power.

The ruling noted that the demand for the employee to alter his physical characteristics offended his dignity and individual freedom. The judge stated that by treating curly hair and beards of Black individuals as “stigmas to be eliminated or hidden for corporate credibility,” the companies perpetuated the systematic devaluation of Black bodies and imposed racist barriers to the labor market.