Jennifer Giordano had been in treatment for cancer for about four months when she went to the Motor Vehicle Commission office in Eatontown, NJ to update her driver's license. In those four months, chemotherapy had caused Giordano to lose her hair, and she was barely comfortable allowing her husband to see her bald head, she told App.
So when an employee at the MVC insisted that Giordano take a new photo for her license and that she remove her head scarf to do so, she broke down crying in the office. Now, she's suing the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission for discrimination and emotional distress.
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"That would be like me telling you, 'take your shirt off, take your bra off and just walk around,'" Giordano, told App. "It's like exposing yourself in a very raw way that's not necessary, and then to have that picture on my license for years."
Eventually, another MVC employee stepped in to tell Giordano that she could keep the old photo on her license under New Jersey state law. The law states that people undergoing medical treatment that changes their appearance are allowed to keep older photos for new licenses.
Although she was able to get a license with her old photo produced, and did not have to take off her scarf in front of a roomful of strangers, Giordano is still suing the agency in hopes that it will make them take a look at their policies and stop the same thing from happening to other people.
"If you're going through a chemotherapy regimen that causes you to lose your hair, you shouldn't be made to feel that way by anybody, especially a state agency," Giordano told App. "They're kind of held to a higher standard."
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