Can we require employees to cover tattoos? 05-08-2008

I am the HR director for a small town community bank. The bank has a "uniform" policy that has been in effect for over 70 years. The bank provides uniform apparel for all employees and the dress code is very professional. However as we hire employees from the younger generation we are seeing more and more visible tattoos. We have two female employees that order skirts with their uniforms and their leg tattoos are visible to customers. We would like to implement a "no visible tattoos" policy for both male and female employees. Which would mean the employee would need to order uniforms to cover the leg tattoo. Is this legal?

Rita Risser Replies:

Generally, it is legal. I am not aware of any state or local laws protecting tattoos in the U.S. The only exception is if the tattoo is part of an employee's religious beliefs. After it fired an employee with two religious wrist tattoos, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers had to pay him $150,000 and agree to make substantial policy and procedural changes as part of an EEOC Consent Decree.

However, you should check with a local attorney. There are a few places with appearance discrimination laws (Michigan, San Francisco and Washington, DC) where this might be illegal. In the town where I used to live, they tried to get a law passed "protecting" tattoos but the Chamber of Commerce was able to get it defeated. But expect to get a lot of grief about it, so have a good local attorney behind you so you can be confident and strong.

Good luck.

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