Male Officer’s Dreadlocks Case Raises Work Discrimination Concerns

Attorney General Anthony Sylvestre says his office has not yet been asked to advise on the dispute involving Corporal Kenrick Bol, a male police officer allowed to wear dreadlocks, who has since been warned by the department that the hairstyle must be removed.

According to Sylvestre, the matter has not yet reached his Ministry. He says he cannot intervene without a formal request for legal advice from the Belize Police Department. 

“The Attorney General’s Ministry has not received a request for advice or representation on the matter as yet, so I would not be able to speak about the specifics,” Sylvestre said.

The case has revived public debate on workplace discrimination, particularly within the police force. In 2019, female officers faced disciplinary action over their hairstyles. Sylvestre, then in private practice, represented the officers in the landmark Shantel Berry case, which ended in their favour.

He explained that the court found the police regulation was not discriminatory on its face once officers demonstrated that dreadlocks could comply with grooming standards.

“They demonstrated that with dreadlocks they could still conform with the rule and not run afoul of the rule,” Sylvestre said. “What the court had found is that, on its face, the rule was not discriminatory.”

Sylvestre said discrimination matters are highly fact-specific and cannot be judged in the abstract.