A North Carolina judge ruled against a Black woman who sued the school district after her white colleagues wrote a petition saying her hair was unprofessional and inappropriate for the workplace.

According to The Charlotte Observer, the judge agreed on Wednesday that Kimberly Tigner's colleagues showed objectionable behavior, but their actions did not constitute discrimination. Tigner works in the Career and Technical Education Department at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as a career development liaison. She sued the district for discrimination and retaliation after allegedly experiencing “racially motivated criticism and bullying," which began in 2015.

“(The school district) intentionally deprived Ms. Tigner, an African American woman, of the same Constitutional rights enjoyed by white citizens as to the creation, performance, enjoyment, and all benefits and privileges of her contractual relationship with (CMS),” the complaint states.

Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. said the petition was “inappropriate and offensive," but did not “satisfy the demanding severe or pervasive standard required to state a claim for hostile work environment.”

The judge agreed with the school district's motion to dismiss which said “courts have rejected claims of racial harassment based on conduct far more egregious than what Plaintiff has alleged in this case.”

CMS' attorneys said the complaint didn't point to an official policy or practice of racial discrimination, The Charlotte Observer reported.

The lawsuit, filed last year in the Western District of North Carolina, says Tigner's supervisor was responsible for circulating the petition. The supervisor allegedly claimed that she had the right to do so because she has Black friends.

Tigner said the hostile environment at the school impacted her 17-year-old son who was banned from CMS for two weeks after the supervisor reportedly felt threatened by his presence. She said she tried to find a job somewhere else after she was allegedly reprimanded for complaining, but she was unsuccessful in her job search. After dismissing Tiger's suit for discrimination, the judge allowed her claims of retaliation to move ahead. On October 15, Tigner's attorney requested to no longer represent Tigner.

California became the first state to ban discrimination based on hair in July. The C.R.O.W.N Act was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom to protect Black people who wear their hair in its natural state from discrimination in the workplace and public schools. New York then became the second state to ban hair discrimination.

Kimberly-Tigner

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