I was fired from Red Lobster over my hair – a manager told me to get a ‘natural color’ to keep my job
A FORMER Red Lobster employee has claimed she was fired over her hair color after a manager told her she needed a “natural color” to keep her job.
The woman said that she had been working at the restaurant since last fall and attended her interview for the position in a red wig.
TikToker Kiara (@celebertey_taylor) shared her story of working for Red Lobster in a recent video.
“At my interview, I was never informed that we weren’t allowed to have unnatural hair colors,” Kiara said.
Kiara said that the old general manager and district manager had seen her hair while she worked at the restaurant.
However, when a new general manager started, Kiara claims things changed.
“I have to dye my hair a natural color if I want to work there,” Kiara said the new manager told her.
Kiara’s video then reveals a poster hanging in the restaurant, which states the dress code policies.
“By the hair section, it says ‘clean and neat’ and ‘hair longer than shoulder length must be tied back,'” Kiara shared.
“Nowhere in there does it say that you can’t have colored or dyed hair.
“The point of my video wasn’t that I was mad that I was getting fired.
“I was mad that I was getting fired over my hair color.”
Kiara also claimed that the manager told her: “You can keep your red hair, you just can’t have it here.”
She said that she later reached out to the Red Lobster corporation for clarity on their policies.
Kiara claimed that corporate told her that the manager was wrong and that she should be rehired.
The video – which was posted in response to another video Kiara shared of the general manager talking to her about her hair color – has been viewed more than 57,000 times.
Viewers of the videos shared their thoughts on the reported firing.
“Wait!! Your hair is that pretty red color? As a customer, I wouldn’t mind at all. Red Lobster, Red hair don’t care!!” one person wrote.
“Nothing wrong with your hair color,” another commenter said.
And a third person added: “I’m a career firefighter and I have had purple hair and nobody has said anything to me.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Red Lobster for comment and clarification of their dress code policies.