Tattoos, Body Art and Too-Casual Outfits in the Corporate World

While an individual is free to express himself or herself in any way that is desired, as making the skin a canvas for great art, as my lovely granddaughter, Jessica, would say, an employer is similarly free to not hire or discharge the canvas. At a recent symposium, John Phillips, Jr., an attorney, noted, "Everyone wants work to be like a day at the beach... unfortunately, more and more employees dress like it really is!".

As dress standards become less rigid, viewpoints on corporate dress codes have mellowed. Many employers mistakenly believe that discrimination laws restrict the right to determine appropriate workplace dress. In fact, an employee has considerable discretion in what employees may wear to work. Generally, a carefully drafted dress code that is applied consistently should not violate discrimination laws. However, this fact will not stop employees from questioning the policy. This article examines common legal challenges to dress codes and suggests ways problems may be avoided.

Often an employee will complain that a dress code "violates my rights." Some employees will even go so far as to allege discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, or race under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. However, if a dress code is based on business needs and applied uniformly, it generally will not violate an employee's civil rights. As will be stressed throughout this article, the two conditions precedent are the policy is based on business needs and, second, that the policy is enforced and applied uniformly and universally.

Dress Codes as sex discrimination