body piercing
rroberts
34 Posts
we are having more and more applicants and employees displaying body piercings. Some of my supervisors have expressed their dislike of this physical appearance and I wanted to know if anyone else has encountered this and if so, has a policy been written to ban such piercings?
Comments
Most of the places I've personally worked have been relatively casual and have specified something along the lines of "multiple ear piercings and nostril piercings are permitted so long as the jewelry worn is 'tasteful and discreet.'" I've never worked anywhere that allowed other visible piercings, and employees were always required to remove jewelry from oral and eyebrow piercings as part of the dress code. Thus, they could have the piercings if they wanted them, but couldn't wear jewelry in them while on the clock.
Holly Jones
Attorney Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers, LLC
The difficult part is what will really affect the individuals work performance? I have met many of our customers in my current industry, and it is a really diverse group.
Those involved requiring verbal communication can seem to have a problem with tongue piercing, and that is a performance issue, plus the clicking on the teeth and even handset.
We do not allow tattoos that have connotations of racial, sexual or other inappropriate overtones and they must be covered up 100% of the time or removed.
Most jewelry had/have some basic connotation - tongue piercing was designed for oral Morris Code, and most jewelry, tatoos are designed to draw attention to some body area you want noticed.
If you have a rule, you probably should apply it regardless of the employees gender, race, etc.
Seriously, do the body piercings effect job performance? Depending on the type of job, is there a lot of customer interaction that could create a negative image? Any decision must be based on business concerns, not on likes or dislikes of the supervisors.
We changed our dress code about 2 years ago due to the fact that our staff work with children.
My advice is set a policy that will best suit your organizational needs. Your organizational needs might be best met with a loose policy in order to attract younger, tech oriented applicants.
There is also something called the Church of Body Modification. This is from their website:
"Will becoming a member in the Church of Body Modification save me from being fired from my job for visual modification?
In the United States different states have different rights to release an employee for any reason ("right to work"). If it is apparent that the reason you are being released from your workplace is because of your modifications this would be considered a violation of your rights and you have a solid case against the employer... if you can prove that visual body modification the reason you are being released, YES you are protected in the United States."
For the link, go here: [url]http://www.uscobm.com/index.asp[/url]
Does this mean that men can have earrings and women can have facial piercings?
Are you thinking disparate treatment?
Now that I've typed it out, seems our policy needs a little updating. We do not allow men to wear earrings. We should probably include women concerning the facial jewelry also. The policy doesn't address oral jewelry....maybe I'll start wearing my tongue barbell to work and see if my boss says anything!
No policy against tattoos.
With that prohibition on chin hair that's not connected to a mustache, Ray would be sunk at your workplace. He has a facial hairdo specially designed for trombone playing.
Funny how this topic always comes up in the summer. I am amazed each year with the attire my employees dress (or don't) in during the summer. I have to constantly remind them this is a place of employment and not the beach.
"No butts, no boobs, no bellies." If any of these are showing, they go home to change. No dangly jewelry or visible facial/body piercings. They are just too much temptation for the curious little ones.
I always tell her that she should let them wear the dangly jewelry. The first time a toddler grabs a chain connecting the ear to the nose, and rips something right out of their flesh, well - they will learn a lesson the hard way.