Yesterday’s Advisor covered best practices for dress codes. Today, we continue with uniforms and religious accommodation, and introduce a new audio conference that will answer your specific questions about dress codes.
May employers require employees to wear uniforms?
In general, employers may require employees to wear uniforms, but employers that do have such a requirement should be sure the requirement is consistently applied. Employers will be subject to scrutiny for requiring employees of one gender, but not the other, to wear uniforms, particularly if those uniforms are risqué or suggestive.
EEOC guidelines state that employers may require all workers to follow a uniform dress code even if the dress code conflicts with some workers’ ethnic beliefs or practices. However, if the dress code conflicts with religious practices, the employer must modify the dress code, unless doing so would create an undue hardship for the employer’s business. Finally, many states (and some union contracts) require that employers that insist on uniforms furnish the uniform at the employer’s expense.
Can dress codes violate religious beliefs?
Another area in which dress codes have led to discrimination claims is conflict between a dress code requirement and an employee’s personal religious beliefs. Title VII of the Civil Rights Law of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on religion. When a dress code requirement conflicts with an employee’s religious beliefs, the employer must carefully examine the situation and accommodate the employee’s religious belief unless the accommodation is an undue hardship for the employer.
The courts have upheld an employer’s right to prohibit long skirts and flowing robes in areas where they can present a safety risk, such as on the factory floor. Long beards and flowing hair may also be prohibited where there are public health concerns (e.g., in a food service or preparation environment).
On the other hand, employers have been sanctioned for prohibiting the wearing of yarmulkes and other religious items of dress or head covering, religious insignias, and other tokens of faith in the office environment.
Employees pierced? Provocative? Scantily clad? How’s your dress code holding up? Get all your appearance/dress code questions answered at BLR’s special June 9 audio conference, Dress Codes: Do’s and Don’ts for Regulating Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Tricky Hot Spots. Get more information.
The best practice for employers is to base dress codes on objective criteria such as workplace safety and professional image and to be prepared to make reasonable accommodations for employees with dress and grooming-related requirements that do not adhere to the dress code, but do not present health or safety concerns.
It is also advisable to include a statement in the employee handbook or written dress code reaffirming that the company will make every effort to accommodate employees’ religious beliefs.
What does federal law say about employee dress codes?
There is no federal law governing employee dress codes. Employers may implement whatever dress guidelines they feel are appropriate, as long as they do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, or any other federally protected status.
In general, courts have ruled that private employers may implement dress standards for employees as long as they can provide business justifications for them, and as long as the standards do not affect one group of people more than another.
Nonetheless, it may be best to avoid imposing rigid or highly restrictive dress requirements. Overly restrictive requirements may create resentment among employees and negatively affect morale in the workplace. Further, employees sometimes do go to court over dress codes perceived to be overly restrictive or discriminatory. Although employees rarely win such cases, the litigation itself is costly and disruptive.
Still puzzled by dress code issues? That’s not surprising. In today’s super-casual society, striking the proper balance between requiring appropriate dress among your workers and respecting their legal rights can be very tricky—especially among younger employees who may never have worn “business clothes.” It’s a widespread problem: Recent studies have found that about half of Americans in their 20s sport a body piercing somewhere besides their ears, and one in four Americans ages 18 to 50 are tattooed.
For answers to your dress code questions, our editors recommend BLR’s new 90-minute audio conference, Dress Codes: Do’s and Don’ts for Regulating Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Tricky Hot Spots.
Are you “chief of the dress code police?” Is that role getting you down? Sign up for BLR’s new audio conference, Dress Codes: Do’s and Don’ts for Regulating Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Tricky Hot Spots. Find out more.
Join us on June 9, 2009, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. (that’s Eastern Time—adjust for your time zone). As with all BLR® audio conferences, one fee trains all the staff you can fit around a conference phone, you can get your (and their) specific phoned-in or e-mailed questions answered in an extensive Q&A that follows the presentation, and your satisfaction is assured or you get a full refund.
What if you can’t attend on that date? Preorder the conference CD. For more information on the conference and the experts presenting it, to register, or to preorder the CD, go here. We’ll be happy to make the arrangements.
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