Essay about Classwork Week 9

Submitted By CalijoenmarielaC
Words: 859
Pages: 4

Today it is commonplace to see a man or women with tattoos covering many parts of their body or giant plug earrings in their ear. Some say this is part of a modern day counterculture. Tattoos and piercings are a nice accent to a person’s body but where do we draw the line. In a workplace environment appearance is very important to present the right kind of image for the company. In our society it is becoming more commonplace for an individual to have what the call “sleeve tattoos” or “gauge earrings.” I believe that it is at the sole discretion of the employer to make the rules that an employee should have to live by in their work life. If that means a person has to always be long sleeves or take out their gauges than that is what has to be done. On the other hand if the company want to let people show their body art or earrings than they can do so. Laws in this country tend to support an employer where dress code is concerned. Many companies have reasons why such things as earrings should not be worn. For example, in a manufacturing environment they could pose as a hazard. Suppose you were a machine operator and you had these gauge earrings. This type of earring tends to hang a little low due to their size and weight. You bend over to operate the machine and the jewelry gets caught in the machine and injures you. Your company now has an injury report to file and a possible claim from the employee. This type of hazard is something the company would like to avoid. Another example of a situation where visible tattoos would not be the best for the workplace is in a sales job. First impressions are very important in that industry. Now if your selling video games or motorcycles your target audience would probably enjoy seeing what beautiful artwork you have displaced. Not all industries are quite as accommodating. For example, selling farming equipment or medical devices internationally. Tattoos or piercings might convey the wrong message in many industries and just the right message in others. The U.S. government tries to stay a little impartial but they do have certain general guidelines that pertain to dress code in the work place. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states, “an employer may establish a dress code which applies to all employees or employees within certain job categories. However, there are a few possible exceptions in there“ in there Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices. Some of the exceptions are the dress code cannot single out any race, religion or sex in any way. Such as casual dress could not limit a person from wearing traditional dress from their culture or women have to wear skirts. It is a difficult situation for a company when it comes to these areas. When and where to drawn the line is something that the company and its human resources department have to be very diligent in making these decisions. If not handled correctly, in this day and age, lawsuits can soon follow if an employee is violated due to race, religion, gender and more. The online new publication allBusiness says “the manager could say something unintentionally that exposes the company to liability” in the