Posted on 08/17/2014 10:43:38 PM PDT by Steelfish
17 August 2014 Should Anti-Tattoo Discrimination Be Illegal? (Pic) A woman on her phone in an office with a large tattoo on her upper arm
Tattoos are more popular than ever, but workers can be dismissed from or denied jobs because of their body modifications. Some want protection under employment law. Should they get it?
You're perfect for the job. You have all the skills and experience the company is looking for, and you've turned up for the interview in your smartest attire.
But there's a problem.
If you have a tattoo that incurs the displeasure of the boss, you might find any offer of employment is swiftly rescinded.
In July Jo Perkins, a consultant in Milton Keynes, had her contract terminated because a 4cm image of a butterfly on her foot contravened the no-visible-inking policy of the firm for which she worked. The company said she had failed to cover it up.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Freedom is a two-way street.
No. Next question.
However:
> a 4cm image of a butterfly on her foot contravened the no-visible-inking policy of the firm for which she worked
Sorry, honey, if you knew the rules, and broke them, you've not got a case, as far as I'm concerned.
You can fight to change the rules, but until they change, you're supposed to play by them.
“a 4cm image of a butterfly on her foot contravened the no-visible-inking policy of the firm for which she worked”
Can’t they just require her to wear thick black socks? I would. It’s sure better than dealing with lawyers.
I wouldn’t employ anyone who looks like a death row inmate or a porn star. I’m not anti-tattoo but I have a disdain for sleeves and neck tattoos, just trashy.
But if she didn't cover it per company policy, whether with socks or a different type of shoe, she was in violation of policy, and she probably knew she was doing so.
One of my English 121 classmates did this for a research/argumentative paper just a few weeks ago. I’m for an employer’s rights to hire whom they deem appropriate for their business. I’m not wholly unsympathetic to people with tattoos, but I don’t think it should be made a right.
I was going to cvs, and the young lady at the counter was pretty and polite except she had a gang tat right on her neck. Talk about an absolute negative impression. Nothing she could do could get me to stop thinking why she would let a gang tat her in such a public place.
What idiot would posit such a question? It used to be a free country. Consider William Wallace,,,,,,just once....give the man a hearing.
Cool video of Dermablend Tattoo Cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtUUOxskTA0
Holy Toledo! That’s amazing!
At the same time I am not particularly aware of any tattoo that makes a person more attractive - aside, perhaps, of hiring a soldier or a sailor. (I have never done either, and cannot speculate further.) I have done my share of interviews of applicants for engineering positions. None of them had tattoos, so I have no personal dog in this fight. But if a 22-25 y/o person wears a tattoo of suspicious nature, I would be required to think about that, simply as part of my job. Perhaps a direct question can resolve the issue... but these days those questions are outlawed by HR for legal reasons. Unanswered concerns like that often count against the applicant, especially if there are several applications per position.
I saw a guy in public with a tattoo on his cheek of a marijuana leaf with a dollar sign in the center. He also had 2 black tears. He must be self-employed.
“Think before you ink.”
My reaction, and please forgive me, is stupid, stupid, stupid. Do you have any notion what that tattoo is going to look like when you get older. A splotch. A big unrecognizable splotch.
Sitting around the pool talking to your friends in your later years I can hear the conversation. This one used to look like a...and this one used to be a ... and this one you can kinda still see that it was a ...
I appreciate your concern, truly. However, the tat was done when I was 50, I'm now 62, and it's still in fine shape. :)
I do know what you mean about changes over the years that cause tattoos to get really awful. I've seen some real unfortunate ones, usually young women who got some pretty thing done on their breast or flank, and the subsequent years, childbearing, breastfeeding, etc. took a toll.
I consider myself fortunate.
You have the freedom and so does everyone else
Many years ago I was privileged to enjoy the company of a lovely young lday who had emblazoned her front lower midriff (the section that would be covered by the bottom of a bikini) with a selection of flowery curlicues and the inscription "Lucky You". It was really quite striking and very tastefully done, all things considered. The design also demonstrated her excellent sense of humor.
(You can get an coarse approximation by hitting Google Image Search with the string "tattoo lucky you" and "Safe Search" turned off, but I don't recommend you do that unless you're really sure you want to, since most of those photos aren't nearly as pretty as the one this young lady had. Your imagination probably should suffice.)
Anyway, I ran into her again, many years, two children, numerous stretch marks, and a good number of pounds later. We had a pleasant time chatting, and recalling prior good times. But I declined her invitation to feel lucky again. I'd just as soon keep the more pleasant memory.
This is a good question to ask - and to answer. This is indeed a free country (or so we hope.) But it is essential to understand that the word "free" only means that the law of the land will not imprison you for doing a certain thing. This is the full extent of that freedom. Your freedom to do something does not mean that 100 million people will not privately hate you for doing that.
In a perfectly free country you will find any number of people (if not simply everyone!) who hold quite strong opinions about virtually every aspect of being. The freedom that one enjoys only guarantees that she will not be prosecuted by the collective. She still may be privately persecuted by an individual, and there is no law against that. (But they try to make such a law, as all those cases against businesses that reject LGBT demonstrate.)
In other words, this is a free country. You can dress up like a homeless wino and then go to an interview for a position of an administrator of a bank. You will not be arrested. But what are your chances of getting the job? An important function of the job interview is to test your judgement, as most people have to exercise it daily as part of their duties. People who do not understand the world around them are not a good match in most cases. Even a lawnmower man has to be sane enough to keep his hands away from the blade. A tattoo is not, of course, as bad as walking into the interview room nearly naked or drunk (or both :-) However it is not an advantage: nobody will hire a tattoo wearer just because of it, but some will refuse to hire that person just because of the tattoo. Your balance, statistically, becomes negative.
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