Workplace Appearance Policies - A Focus on Hair in the Workplace

  

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Workplace Appearance Policies - A Focus on Hair in the Workplace

A recent view of Sesame Street's newest brown muppet singing the very catchy song:  "I love my hair" made me begin thinking about appearance in the workplace, and particularly about, well, hair. 

Many employers have and enforce dress codes or grooming standards.  Often these codes, standards or policies directly or indirectly address hair.  Generally, this is safe territory for employers to regulate but when drafting and enforcing these hair related policies employers should not forget to stop and think about the anti-discrimination laws. 

While most state and federal laws do not expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of personal appearance (D.C. does!) things can get complicated when an employer's policy purports to regulate an aspect of an employee's personal appearance, like hair, in a way that adversely affects protected class status.  

Consider the following points made by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) about hair in the workplace:

The EEOC's Compliance Manual on Race Discrimination states in the section on Appearance and Grooming Standards that "Title VII's prohibition of race discrimination generally encompasses ... physical characteristics associated with race, such as [a] person's ... hair."  The manual continues:  "[a]pearance standards generally must be neutral, adopted for non-discriminatory reasons, consistently applied to persons of all racial and ethnic groups, and, if the standard has a disparate impact, it must be job-related and consistent with business necessity."  The Manual also suggests that a seemingly neutral policy requiring hair to be "neat, clean and well-groomed" is unlawful if it is, for example, applied by the employer to prevent women from wearing their hair in a natural afro, or is otherwise applied more restrictively to hairstyles worn by African Americans.  

The EEOC's Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination also addresses hair in the workplace and states:  "[w]hen an employer has a dress or grooming policy that conflicts with an employee's religious beliefs or practices, the employee may ask for an exception the policy as a reasonable accommodation.  Religious grooming practices may relate, for example to shaving or hair length..." This section of the Manual also provides examples of possible religious accommodations that can be made for grooming policies such as allowing employees to pull hair back (e.g., for some Native Americans or Rastafarians) in a hair tie, among others.

Hair and its role in someone's appearance are often related to a person's origin, religion, race, and/or ethnicity.  So, it is worth taking the time to review your company’s policy and how it is applied and enforced --particularly with regard to hair styles and hair related requirements.  Whenever possible, flexibility around grooming standards for hair and compliance with anti-discrimination laws can permit employees to not only sing "I love my hair" but also, "I love my job" -- and that is a win-win.

-Lili Palacios-Baldwin

Image by Sesame Street on You Tube