Cree Ballah, 20, said she showed up for work at Zara’s Scarborough Town Centre location on March 23 with her hair in box braids gathered in the back.

One manager asked her to take the braids out of the bunch and returned later with a second manager, Ballah told CBC News.

They took me outside of the store and they said, 

“We’re not trying to offend you, but we’re going for a clean professional look with Zara and the hairstyle you have now is not the look for Zara’

Then, she said, out in the busy mall where other Zara employees could see them, the managers proceeded to try to “fix” her hair.

She left the mall hurt and upset. She filed an official complaint with the company’s human resources department, claiming discrimination.

“My hair type is also linked to my race, so to me, I felt like it was direct discrimination against my ethnicity in the sense of what comes along with it”