Fashion Dress Codes with Care
Examine your policy before you become the fashion police
Susan Williams
What is considered appropriate business attire and grooming for men and women has provided fodder for legal issues and employee strife. Dress code policies can be a trap for legal and employee-relations consequences and careful consideration is needed to avoid future problems.
Many employers choose to stay away from written dress codes because of the legal risks associated with them. However, companies have a fundamental right to set policies for legitimate business reasons, including safety concerns, customer preference, and respect for co-workers. Employers are not legally required to have a formal policy, but many employers choose to have one to set expectations.
When dress code issues anger employees, who then file lawsuits against their employers, the decisions made by the courts may not always provide clear-cut precedents that employers can follow in the future.
For example, a safety policy requiring the wearing of hard hats was not enforceable for an employee who wore a turban as part of his religious practice. The employee successfully defended his preference to wear the turban. If an employee must sometimes be in a work area requiring hard hats, yet he doesn’t actually perform the tasks that require the personal protective equipment, an employer might have to make reasonable accommodations to allow the employee to wear the turban regardless of safety concerns.
Dress Code Suggestions
If your company wishes to develop a formal written policy, please consider following points:
• Have a real business reason for the policy and articulate the reason.
• Comply with applicable state or local laws such as prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of weight.
• Make certain the policies do not perpetuate stereotypes or adversely impact only certain groups of employees.
• State generally the image you want your employees to project, rather than create detailed requirements that may be difficult to enforce.
• Enforce the adopted policy evenhandedly with all employees.
• Be flexible and willing to accommodate the known religious practices or disabilities of individual employees.
Carefully worded dress and grooming standards may provide employees with a helpful guide as they make decisions regarding appropriate attire for work.
Susan Williams is president of HR Choice. You may reach her at (623) 935-7759 or susan.hrchoice@cox.net.
AZ CPA – February 2007
