I have a male employee who likes to dress like a female and it causes a lot of customers to complain. He wears makeup, pink lipstick, and brings a purse to work. He says that if I allow females to do so I must allow him to. Is he correct?
Posted 10-07-2013
Steve Duggan replies:
No, he is not correct, at least not for the reason he stated. Employers can require business attire that conforms to the employee’s gender, and can even require different work uniforms for different genders, so long as it is reasonable and complies generally with acceptable societal norms. This has generally been held not to be gender discrimination. Therefore, a man does not have a right to dress like a woman, just because women are allowed to do so, and vice versa. In some states in which “gender identity” is a protected characteristic under its laws, a man would have a right to dress like a woman if her predominant gender identity were as a woman. However, neither federal law nor state law where your employee works provides this protection, so it does not apply to him.
Information here is correct at the time it is posted. Case decisions cited here may be reversed. Please do not rely on this information without consulting an attorney first.
