(February 24, 2015 at 5:11 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote: If the dress code requirement is directly related to job-related hazards or would endanger the health or safety of the employee, I am all on the side of the business. For example, requiring men to be clean-shaven (or at most a mustache) in a workplace that requires respirators, either as regular use or in cases of emergency; forbidding robes or flowing fabric in workplaces with machinery where such apparel could get caught and endanger the employee; headgear that interferes with the proper fit and function of safety helmets, etc.
If the dress code requirement is entirely aesthetic, then I would side with the employee and require the business to demonstrate that allowing the employee to violate the dress code would be a substantial burden on the company.
In the case of the Abercrombie employee, there doesn't appear to be any health and safety related reasons that she cannot wear a hijab, it seems to be an aesthetic thing, so I would side with the employee until such time as A&F demonstrates that allowing her to wear a head covering would harm the business.
CM, Let's say I'm straight out of law school, top of the class, super memory for all the law's caveats and so on.
I apply for a position at a law firm, they like my CV and set up an interview.
I show up wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Will they hire me? (NO)
Is there any health and safety hazard? (NO)
Is it an aesthetic thing? (YES)
Would it harm the business if I wore jeans and t-shirt to work? (Depends on the customer)
That said, what is the target audience for this Abercrombie? Is it conservative, or, as someone said, raunchy?
If it is conservative, then I agree that the woman should be hired as she would be upholding conservative values by wearing that thing on her head and showing her respect for her cultural heritage (note I didn't say religion
the hijab is not a religious item, as far as I'm concerned)If the store caters to young liberal slutty women, then the staff must act and dress accordingly.
It seems the store has a dress code and that code disallows the covering of the hair. Knowing this, why would that woman go to the job interview wearing something in defiance of the established dress code?
