Can an employer dictate how I dress?
A: Yes, your employer can determine how you dress. He /she is even allowed by the law to do so. It is common to see people dressed in suits while at the office. Most employers require formal and professional attire, but there are those that prefer to keep it casual. For instance, a sports-themed workplace does not require people to wear suits, they can wear tracksuits. However, the dress codes become illegal if they are discriminative of gender or religion.

Is it legal for an employer to have dress codes for women but not men? 
A: No, it is very illegal to have dress codes targeting only one specific gender. The dress codes should be universal, in that it targets and should be adhered to by everyone in the workplace.

Is it legal for employers to allow women to wear long hair but not men? 
A: Yes, it is legal and allowed. Employers are given the mandate to dictate different dress codes for women and men. However, the code should not seem discriminative on either gender in the workplace.

Can an employer make a female employee wear a sexy uniform?
A: The answer here is yes and no. If your job requires you to have a sexy or revealing attire, then the employer has the right to make you wear one. An excellent example of such a job is casino and bars. However, if the job does not require you to dress sexy, then that becomes sexual harassment.

Conclusion

United employees law group (UELG) is a law firm in California that is dedicated to helping employees whose rights have been discriminated by their employers. They will surely help you if you have any dress code cases

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A private employer is allowed by law to enforce dress codes on employees. The law allows the employer to rely on the basis of safety for him to impose the regulations. Some of the dress codes the employer can impose as a way of enhancing the safety of employees include jewelry requirements, grooming, and clothing. You should be careful as an employer not to be seen as a discriminator or harasser when imposing these dress codes.

You should as well avoid imposing laws which can endanger or even kill the morale of the workers in your organization.

Dos of Employee Dress Codes and Clothing

Create a policy and distribute it in writing so that all the employees in your organization can see it. The policy should be based on business reasons. Some of the reasons include promotion of the company image and reflecting the company’s culture.
You can impose the rules basing on safety reasons. For example, if a worker works in the kitchen, they should tie their hair back and cover it for hygiene reasons. An industrial worker should tie his hair back to avoid accidents.

The business should clearly describe business casual attire. You can specify if your organization will prefer sweat suits, jeans or any other attire which you consider inappropriate.

The policy should apply to all employees. However, employees who require exceptions for disability reasons should be considered.

Some of the challenges which face employee dress codes and clothing include charges where employees can argue the dress code is discriminating on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, sex disability, origin, and religion.

Don’ts of Employee Dress Codes and Clothing

Harassment

If employees are required to dress in a revealing way, they may sue for harassment.

Gender Discrimination

California makes it unlawful to prohibit employees from wearing pants based on gender.

Uniform Costs

Employees are not required to buy their safety gear. The employer is required to buy the safety gear for the employees at their workplaces. If you have a workplace such as industry where employees are required to wear steel-toed boots, then the company should make plans and pay for the boots to the employees.

Religious Practices

An employer is allowed to prohibit body piercing, tattoos and other practices which may go against the organization branding. If you have practices which go against the company’s values or mission, the employer can prohibit them during his work time. Slogans or images offensive to another employee can be as well denied at workplaces. For instance, Confederate flags and slogans can be denied.

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In every organization, it is the obligation of employees to follow a dress code. Therefore, the clothing, tattoos, hair, nails, piercings should be regulated. In fact, most parts of the dress codes are legal so long as they are non-discriminatory. In order to learn more about the grooming and dress codes, you need to read the information highlighted:

#1. Can your employer tell you how to dress?

The answer to the question is a yes. It is important to know that employees should regulate the employee’s appearance. However, certain employees should not be discriminated. In some of the organizations, all the employees are supposed to wear the uniform. Currently, the employees need formal attire.

#2. Is it legal for my employer to force me how to dress yet he is not informing anyone else?

Generally, a company should not discriminate or single out one employer. Hence, you should know that the dress code policies must be targeting all the workers and not just you. Therefore, the answer to that question is a no.

#3. My employer has a dress code for one gender. Is it legal?

The solution of the question is a no because the employers are not supposed to single out any particular group of people. Thus, the dress codes should target all the workers.

#4. Is it right for my boss to allow women to wear their long hair and not allow the men?

Yes. The dress code standards for women should be different from that of men. But, a greater burden on either of the gender should not be imposed.

#5. Are you allowed to wear a sexual or revealing uniform while working in a casino or any other employer?

Occasionally, it is a yes. If part of the work ethics is looking sexy then you needs to wear revealing uniforms. Nevertheless, revealing uniforms are not supposed to be worn if your place of work has nothing concerning a more provocative image. In rare occasions, some of the unions have fought successfully so as to prohibit their female colleagues from wearing revealing attire while they are at the workstation.

#6. Is there certain weight which I must not exceed so as to fit the size of the uniform?

The reaction to the question is a yes and no. While some of the ladies should fit into a small weight range, men are supposed to wear a larger weight range. On the contrary, it is not illegal to have a requirement for maintaining certain weight which doesn’t end up in the discrimination between men and women.

Conclusion

Generally, the court has ruled that there should be dress code standards for the employees. The guidelines mentioned above indicate that the problems are normally centered on a gender basis. Hence, the employers should enforce the dress codes for both men and women. As always, dress codes vary depending on the company so remember to review

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