Virginia CROWN Act: Protections, Filing a Complaint, and Remedies

Virginia’s CROWN Act makes it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their hair texture or protective hairstyles like braids, locs, and twists, by writing those traits into the definition of race under the Virginia Human Rights Act.¹ That one change pulls hair-based discrimination into every area the Human Rights Act already covers: jobs, schools, housing, and businesses open to the public. If a grooming rule penalizes you for a hairstyle tied to your racial identity, you can file a complaint and, if it comes to it, sue.

What Hair Is Protected

The statute amends § 2.2-3901 so that the phrases “because of race” and “on the basis of race” include traits historically associated with race, specifically hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles. Braids, locs, and twists are named in the law as examples, but the language is open-ended. Other culturally associated styles, including Bantu knots and cornrows, fall under the same protection.¹ Before this change, employers and schools could defend grooming policies by calling them race-neutral. That defense no longer works when the policy targets a style tied to racial identity.

Where the Law Applies

Because the CROWN Act amended the Virginia Human Rights Act rather than creating a separate statute, its reach matches the Act’s reach: employment, education, housing, and public accommodations.²

At Work

Virginia’s employer coverage runs on two different thresholds, and the one that applies depends on what happened to you. For most discrimination claims, hiring, promotion, pay, workplace conditions, the law covers employers with 15 or more employees. For wrongful termination based on race, the threshold drops to more than five employees.³ So a much smaller employer can be held liable for firing you over your hair than for passing you over for a promotion. Both public and private employers are covered.

At School

Public and private schools, colleges, and universities cannot discipline or exclude students based on hair texture or protective styling. Educational institutions are treated as public accommodations under the Human Rights Act, so the same standards that apply to a restaurant or hotel apply to a school.² A child sent home, benched from a team, or told to change their hair for a school event has a claim.

In Housing and Public Places

Virginia’s Fair Housing Law bars race discrimination in rental and sale transactions, and race now includes hair-related traits.⁴ A landlord who turns you away over your natural hair is violating the law. Any business that offers goods or services to the public falls under the same restriction.⁵

What the Law Does Not Override

Genuine safety requirements still stand. OSHA recognizes loose hair as an entanglement hazard near rotating machinery, and employers can require hair restraints or coverings when real physical dangers are present. The policy has to apply to everyone and be tied to an actual job hazard. A surgical cap in the operating room is fine. A ban on locs because they look “unprofessional” is not.

How to File a Complaint With Virginia

Complaints go to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which sits within the Office of the Attorney General.⁶ Older references to the Virginia Council on Human Rights are out of date.

Before you file, pull together:

The full legal name and address of the employer, school, landlord, or business involved.
The dates things happened and the names of supervisors, managers, or others involved.
A written account of the specific comments, policies, or actions related to your hair, and how the grooming standard was applied to you.
Supporting documents: emails, employee handbooks, dress codes, disciplinary notices, or any writing that references your hair.

The OCR takes complaints through an online form or by paper form submitted by mail or email to the Office of Civil Rights, Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, 202 North Ninth Street, Richmond, VA 23219.⁶ Every complaint has to be signed and verified under penalty of perjury. An unsigned complaint will not be processed. Once filed, you’ll get a confirmation letter, the OCR will notify the respondent, and the investigation generally wraps within 180 days, though complicated cases run longer.⁷

Deadlines You Cannot Miss

Deadlines are where most of these cases die.

If the OCR issues you a notice of your right to file a civil action, you have 90 days from the day you receive it to file suit in a Virginia general district or circuit court.⁸ If 180 days have gone by since you filed your complaint and the OCR hasn’t finished its investigation, you can request a right-to-sue letter and move the case to court yourself. You don’t have to wait on the agency forever.

For a federal EEOC charge, the standard filing deadline is 180 days from the discriminatory act, but because Virginia has a state agency enforcing anti-discrimination laws on the same basis, that deadline extends to 300 days.⁹ Weekends and holidays count. Don’t leave it to the last week.

Filing Federally Through the EEOC

The EEOC treats hair texture as a racial characteristic protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, even if not every person of a given race shares the same hair traits.¹⁰ Virginia’s OCR and the EEOC have a worksharing agreement, so a single complaint filed with either agency is automatically dual-filed to preserve both your state and federal rights.¹¹ The two agencies then decide between them who investigates. The point of dual filing is that you don’t accidentally forfeit one claim while pursuing the other.

A federal CROWN Act, S. 751, was introduced in the 119th Congress in February 2025, but as of early 2026 it remains in committee and has not been signed into law.¹² Federal protection for hair discrimination still rests on EEOC enforcement guidance rather than explicit statutory text.

Suing in Court and What You Can Recover

Virginia doesn’t force you to exhaust the administrative process before going to court, but the timing has to be right. Under § 2.2-3908, you can file a private lawsuit in circuit court or general district court once you have a right-to-sue notice from the OCR or EEOC, or once 180 days have passed since filing your administrative complaint without one issuing.⁸

If the court finds unlawful discrimination, the available remedies include compensatory damages, punitive damages, reasonable attorney fees and costs, and injunctive relief, such as an order requiring the employer to change its grooming policy.⁸ Virginia’s general $350,000 cap on punitive damages applies. The Attorney General can also intervene in a private suit if the case raises issues of general public importance.

Taxes on a Settlement or Award

If you recover money, the IRS treats the pieces differently. Back pay and front pay are taxable as wages. The IRS has ruled that damages for employment discrimination claims, including disparate treatment under Title VII, are not excludable from gross income.¹³

Emotional distress damages are generally taxable unless they stem from a physical injury or physical sickness. If you paid for therapy or medical treatment tied to the emotional distress and never deducted those costs on a prior return, the reimbursement portion can be excluded from income.¹³ Punitive damages are always taxable. Ask your attorney to allocate the amounts clearly in the settlement agreement so the taxable and nontaxable shares are on paper.

When Hair Is Also Religious

Some hairstyles carry both racial and religious meaning. Dreadlocks, for example, are worn by people of the Rastafari faith as well as by Black individuals as a protective style. When a grooming policy affects your hair for religious reasons, Title VII’s religious accommodation rules add a second layer of protection. Employers with 15 or more employees must accommodate religious grooming practices unless doing so would impose a significant difficulty or expense. The CROWN Act and religious accommodation are not mutually exclusive. If your hair carries both meanings, you can pursue claims under both at the same time.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 2.2-3901 – Definitions
2
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia – Virginia Human Rights Act
3
Virginia Code Commission. Chapter 39 – Virginia Human Rights Act
4
Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Virginia Fair Housing Office
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Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 2.2-3904 – Nondiscrimination in Places of Public Accommodation; Definitions
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Office of the Attorney General. Civil Rights
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Virginia Department of Human Resource Management. Complaint of Discrimination
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Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 2.2-3908 – Civil Actions by Private Parties
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Facts About Race/Color Discrimination
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. State and Local Programs
12
Congress.gov. CROWN Act of 2025
13
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments