A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit Larry D. Christmas Jr. filed after the city rejected him as a firefighter because he refused to cut off his dreadlocks.
U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. dismissed the case at the city’s request because he found the Pascagoula man failed to back up his claim that the city enforced an official policy that led to employment discrimination based on racial or religious beliefs.
Guirola denied the city’s request that Christmas cover its legal fees.
Christmas asserted that he was offered a firefighter’s job in December 2014, but told he would need to cut off his dreadlocks for safety reasons. Christmas, who is black, refused, saying he wears them for cultural and religious reasons.
He filed his lawsuit a year later. Christmas has sued at least three previous employers for discrimination, court records show. Two of the cases have been dismissed.