Plenty of companies have professional dress codes. Some regulate if an employee can have visible tattoos or wear a lot of make up. I've even seen guidelines that regulated how thick an employee's eyeliner should be for both males and females.
Where does that say so end? Can an employer criticize an employee's deoderant? Say that he has too much acne? Tell him he needs to shower more often? How much say does a company get to have over personal hygiene? When does making a comment go over the line?
Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :
Depends. I know when I worked at Hollywood Video there was a guideline about wearing deodorant. Basically the principle was if you smell strongly enough to bother someone (aka a customer or fellow employee) you should probably wear deodorant of some kind.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Very likely depends both on the job itself and the actual extent of the deviation from the norm. Why?
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Edited to add: That seemed awfully abrupt on reread. It was meant to be an interested "why," not a challenging "why."
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Personal hygiene is something an employer should have some say-so over, to the extent it affects other employees and customers. Smell is fair game. Smart employers don't attempt to make too many specific rules about it, they just address the rare exceptions with as much sensitivity as possible.
Posted by Very Anonymous (Member # 11756) on :
Let's say it's a typical office. Some interaction with customers, but not as much as at a video store. Not customer service.
And the issue is hair not being styled/hair apparently looking greasey because although washed, it's pulled back. Company has no stated rules about hair for males/females besides looking generally professional.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
It's in my husband's contract that he is required to shower daily during tax season.
They don't actually ask him as long as he doesn't stink, of course.
But the reason is that a former employee didn't and it reflected badly on their establishment.
Posted by Artemisia Tridentata (Member # 8746) on :
Actually, for a private employeer, any dress code is "legal" (what ever that means) as long as there is no disparate impact on a protected class of employee; class defined as age, race, sex, national origin, handicapped status, vet status and religion or political persuasion in some states.
From a practical point of view, it is prudent to have dress codes that make sense. And from a practical point of view it makes sense to write them down and consistently enforce them. But, there is no law aganst doing dumb stuff as long as it does not impact any particular age, race, sex, etc more than another. You have no constitutional right to a smart boss.
Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
Requiring a minimum level of hygiene for employees is neither inappropriate nor stupid. Whether or not your hypothetical boss was insensitive about the hair issue is another matter perhaps.
If you (hypothetical you of course, since it's not clear you're talking about yourself here) get repeated "suggestions" to change your hairstyle, then you should either comply or find another place to work (or possibly even re-think your career path, if having a certain look is that important to you). Obviously, some professions are less flexible about such things than others.
I do sympathize to a degree. I like my SO to wear his hair long. He has really nice, silky, curly black hair, and if I had my way, he'd wear it past his shoulders. He keeps it shorter, because he feels like wearing it longer would not look good professionally. He recently changed jobs and they're a little more particular about it than his previous employer was though.
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
I had to threaten a hostile work environment lawsuit when an attorney in our firm refused to stop bathing in a cologne that was causing me serious allergy attacks and migraines. This was a problem that was addressed repeatedly over almost a full year, including my having to go to the hospital on two occasions. Not a frivolous situation.
So yes, I agree that if scent - either due to lack of cleanliness or overapplication - is sufficient to create a nuisance for employees or customers, the employer has every right and responsibility to intervene.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
We had a European man working in my job. There is zero customer service. Technically, he was higher ranked then everyone but my boss (including me). I mentioned to my boss that the smell was making it difficult for the rest of us to treat him well. My boss agreed and took him aside, explaining that in the US, our standards were different then what he was used to. I think it was a much easier conversation because it could all be blamed on culture.
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
Europeans... Posted by EmpSquared (Member # 10890) on :
I work at a restaurant, and one of our newer servers got written up... because he sweats on people. I can't help but think, "I understand that, as a manager, you don't want your employees to sweat on guests, but is writing him up going to stop that?"
Posted by Lostinspace (Member # 11633) on :
quote:Originally posted by EmpSquared: I work at a restaurant, and one of our newer servers got written up... because he sweats on people. I can't help but think, "I understand that, as a manager, you don't want your employees to sweat on guests, but is writing him up going to stop that?"
Probably not, but if it continues then this person should not be in the restaurant business as a customer does not want food that has been sweated on. So more than likely they need the documentation incase they have to fire the person. When I worked retail, I often had to write people up for things out of their control so I had the documentation for it.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
quote:Originally posted by Goody Scrivener: I had to threaten a hostile work environment lawsuit when an attorney in our firm refused to stop bathing in a cologne that was causing me serious allergy attacks and migraines. This was a problem that was addressed repeatedly over almost a full year, including my having to go to the hospital on two occasions. Not a frivolous situation.
So yes, I agree that if scent - either due to lack of cleanliness or overapplication - is sufficient to create a nuisance for employees or customers, the employer has every right and responsibility to intervene.
Wow! I was thinking about asking for an air filter for my room (hurricane = lots of mold floating around), but I didn't think anybody would go for it. Hmmmm...
-pH
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I once worked with a uy who was fired for lack of personal hygiene. Both customers and co-workers complained about it on a daily basis ( he stank).
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)