In many jobs there are dress codes. In some, they may be strict, in others, not so much, and others may not even have one; however, coworkers may influence you to dress more formally or, on the contrary, more casually. But the thing about dress codes is that they should be the same for everyone.

Moreover, if the requirements for a job are strict – such as no tattoos, at least in visible places, no big or facial piercings or specific hairstyles – it would be more convenient to at least mention that during job interviews or in job contracts, simply to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts.

More info: Reddit

Dress code should be the same for everybody, not just one specific person

Image credits: andreaawakening

Person maliciously complies after they were told by their boss to remove their industrial piercing

Image credits: u/andreaawakening

Image credits: Sora Shimazaki (not the actual photo) 

During the interview. nothing regarding this piercing was mentioned, but in the first days of work, the manager instructed the employee to remove it

Image credits: u/andreaawakening

Image credits: FANQI (not the actual photo) 

The main issue was that the piercing was though the whole ear, as other employees had upper ear piercings

Image credits: u/andreaawakening

They changed it into two separate piercings and despite the manager’s same complaints, he couldn’t say anything as the industrial piercing had been removed

Recently one Reddit user shared their story to one of its communities. They maliciously complied after they were told by their manager to remove their industrial piercing because it was going through their whole ear. The post received quite a lot of folks’ attention and in just 2 days, it received more than 5.2K upvotes and almost 300 comments.

The person starts the story by saying that they have an industrial piercing. During the job interview, the manager didn’t say anything regarding it, so the employee assumed there were no problems. Well, during the first days, they were told to remove it, but they stated that their colleagues also have upper earrings and so did not understand why the problem was only with them. As it turned out, the manager’s issue was that the piercing was basically with a ‘stick that goes through the whole ear’. 

So after this, they removed it and replaced it with 2 separate small piercings. Next time the manager had the same complaint, OP just explained that the problem was with the ‘stick’, which was now gone, so – no problem. The author shares that it’s nice to see the manager still complaining about it, despite not being able to do anything as they removed the piercing that was supposed to be removed.

Folks online applauded the author and shared their similar situations. “Once I had a coworker who was told he couldn’t have long hair. Instead of just getting it cut shorter he shaved it off and proceeded to tell our regulars that management preferred skinheads,” one user wrote. “I have facial piercings and I don’t take them out. My feeling is either you want me to work for you, or you don’t,” another added.

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

To get more insights from the legal point of view, Bored Panda got in touch with Janelle J. Romero, Esq., the founder of Gen Esq Law. She kindly agreed to share her professional insights regarding this situation. 

To begin with, Janelle shares that technically, the manager wasn’t violating any laws in requesting that the person remove the piercing. There is no federal law or state law that she knows of) that protects rights based on characteristics of piercings.

Moreover, speaking about legal protections that exist for employees who believe they have been discriminated against based on their personal appearance, she shares that federally, there are not many. But depending on where the employee works, some cities and states have enacted their own laws to expand on the federal protections.

However, in many states including New York, the Crown Act protects employees from discrimination for their natural hair and hairstyles. This doesn’t cover hair as broadly as to include unique hair colors or hairstyles, but allows for protection from discrimination for people’s natural textures and accompanying hairstyles.

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Additionally, tattoos are not legally protected characteristics in the workplace and you may actually be discriminated against with visible tattoos. “As for weight, some cities and states are currently considering whether to consider weight as a protected class from discrimination. As of now, most courts have ruled that obesity is not a protected class under the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Janelle emphasizes.

Finally, she adds, the presence of similar piercings among other coworkers may impact the validity of the manager’s request in this case since it may suggest that they were picked out for a different purpose. As a result, if the individual can identify the cause and provide proof of it, and that reason turns out to be one of the protected characteristics—like race, national origin, age, or religion—they may have a valid claim against the company for that reason instead.

So folks, what do you think about this story? Have you ever been in a similar situation? How did you deal with it? Share in the comments below!

Redditors suggested solutions and shared their own similar situations

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