Do your supervisors know how to cope with an employee whose attire violates the company dress code? Do they know how to take into account religious and cultural beliefs and how the law applies to these scenarios? Below is some important information to convey to your supervisors about dress code violations and how they can and cannot be addressed.

Although terminating an employee because of the way he or she dresses is not usually considered a legitimate practice under the law, there may be rare instances where it could be justified. Employers are allowed to impose dress codes in some circumstances, and employees may be required to abide by the code and dress appropriately:

• For example, in jobs that require interaction with the public, there are usually standards for professional appearance, and holding employees to these standards is viewed as a business necessity.
• Even in these circumstances, however, required standards must be reasonable and fair to both sexes.
• Certain exceptions may be required to accommodate religious and cultural beliefs, as long as the attire doesn't interfere with normal business activity. Therefore, it would be considered unreasonable to fire a customer service employee for insisting on wearing a headdress for religious reasons. On the other hand, that same attire could pose a safety threat for an equipment operator. In that case there could be a legitimate reason for the dress requirement, and an employee who refused to comply could be transferred to another job, or perhaps even be terminated, if no other suitable work was available.

The above information comes from BLR's presentation "Grounds for Termination: What Managers and Supervisors Need to Know." For more information on all the training courses BLR has to offer, go to our Employee and Manager Training page.