Dress at Work — Tip of the Week

Last week’s news about the clothing of a female sports reporter named Ines Sainz and the reaction by New York Jets players is still in play. My post on the subject provoked a few mixed comments and several private emails, some agreeing with me, some not. Since it’s still talked and written about, often in the context of sex discrimination or sexual harassment, it seemed to justify a tip of the week.

This tip, however, focuses on one aspect of dress or appearance policies that employers are entitled to have. Dress codes encompass much more than clothes — hair, jewelry, tattoos, piercings, perfume, cologne, deodorant, body odor, etc. This post deals only with some types of dress and how much flexibility an employer has to control dress at work.

Regrettably but unavoidably, this issue seems to always focus more on women than men. Though some have tried to make a sex discrimination case out of this focus, it ordinarily doesn’t work. Employers have a lot of latitude over controlling what all of their employees wear to work. An employer can require all employees to dress neatly and business-like, and the employer gets to decide what that means.

An employer can prevent men from wearing jock straps, ballet tights, Speedos, muscle shirts, skintight jeans, and similar clothing to work. An employer can also prevent women from wearing cleavage-showing tops, skintight jeans, postage-stamp-sized skirts, tank and halter tops, and similar clothing to work.

It doesn’t matter what they wear on TV, in movies, at Hooters, or to celebrity galas. If you want your workplace to look professional and business-like, your employees must dress like you want them to. But don’t play favorites. Be consistent. And — solicit your employees help in writing a reasonable policy.

If you really want to make a difference – banish casual dress.