Banana Republic Employee Told Her Braids Are ‘Too Urban’
Banana Republic has been accused of being discriminatory to one of its employees, a black woman named Destiny Tompkinshas after her manager would not schedule her for more shifts unless she removed her braids, which he described as “too urban and unkempt.”
As mentioned in NY Daily News, Tompkins posted to Facebook about the encounter at the Westchester Mall store, saying that after a visit from the district manager, who was white, the store manager, also white, told Tompkins she had to remove her braids.
“I came in and he questioned me about the dress code and immediately, I thought there was something wrong with my outfit but he sat me down and questioned my hair instead,” Tompkins shared on Facebook. “He told me that my braids were not Banana Republic appropriate and that they were too ‘urban’ and ‘unkempt’ for their image.”