He really wanted to be a firefighter, Larry Christmas Jr. said, but he gave up his dream and filed a lawsuit because the fire department insisted he cut off his dreadlocks.
In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Christmas accuses the city of racial discrimination. He requests $500,000 in compensation for losing the job and $2 million in damages designed to punish the city. The Pascagoula resident claims he suffered “great mental distress, depression, physical injury, humiliation and anguish” over loss of the firefighter’s job.
The city has not yet filed a response to the lawsuit, which represents only one side of the story.
The lawsuit says Christmas aced his written and physical tests when he applied for the position in mid-2014. Nonetheless, he said he was passed over in the first round of hires, but white candidates with lower scores landed jobs. Christmas said he began to feel discrimination was at play.
Christmas received a call-back in December 2014, when the Fire Department hired him and he sat down for a second interview, this one with Chief Mike Beyerstedt.
Beyerstedt told Christmas he would need to cut off the dreadlocks that hung down his back before he reported for a physical and orientation in February 2015. Beyerstedt told Christmas the dreadlocks would be a safety risk, according to Christmas.