In-N-Out Burger employee Alyssa takes customers' orders at the opening of its second location in Redding on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019. In-N-Out Burger
Los Angeles, California – A former In-N-Out employee has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the California-based burger chain, alleging he was wrongfully terminated after enduring discriminatory treatment related to his hairstyle—a case that could test the boundaries of workplace grooming policies under state civil rights law.
Elijah Obeng, 21, filed his complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week, accusing In-N-Out of violating California’s CROWN Act, which prohibits hair-based discrimination rooted in racial bias. Obeng, a Black man, says he was singled out for his natural hairstyle while employed at the company’s Compton location, where he had worked for nearly four years.
The chain’s grooming standards require employees to be clean-shaven and wear company-issued hats that fully contain their hair. According to the suit, as Obeng’s hair grew, he began wearing braids to comply. But managers repeatedly instructed him to change or cut his hair—and ultimately to shave his sideburns, a request Obeng found invasive and racially charged.
Obeng said that when he attempted to comply while preserving elements of his cultural identity, such as his natural sideburns, he began facing heightened scrutiny. Minor infractions were punished more harshly, promotional opportunities disappeared, and his overall work environment grew more hostile.
In May 2024, a supervisor ordered him to go home, shave, and return. Obeng says he had no facial hair other than sideburns styled as part of his hair. The directive was issued publicly, in front of coworkers, which Obeng said left him feeling humiliated. Days later, he was terminated.
In-N-Out declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. The company maintains that Obeng’s firing was the result of documented performance issues and prior write-ups—not retaliation for resisting grooming policies.
Obeng’s lawsuit frames the issue not as a matter of personal grooming, but of systemic racial bias. His attorneys argue the company’s standards disproportionately affect Black employees whose natural hair and grooming practices don’t align with Eurocentric workplace norms. The CROWN Act, passed in California in 2019, was created to protect against exactly this kind of discrimination.
Obeng says the experience caused him “anxiety, humiliation, and loss of dignity,” along with reputational harm and emotional distress. He’s seeking damages for lost wages, emotional suffering, and punitive action against the company.
