Many employers prohibit visible tattoos and body piercings on the job
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By JESSE FRUHWIRTH
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
At the counter of Lucky Bamboo Tattoo stood a woman with a fresh business-ready haircut, modest makeup, a Sesame Street diaper bag, smart jeans, a conservative shirt and a wide-eyed baby on her hip. She said she's the kind of woman who wants it all: the kids, the career, the tongue piercing.
The 23-year-old Kaysville receptionist, also tattooed on the back of her neck and back, was told by her boss to get rid of her tongue piercing, or at least use a clear glass piece of jewelry to fill it.
She says her boss's request is petty.
"Just because you have tattoos or piercings doesn't mean you can't do your job," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used for fear her boss might be offended.
The woman's employer actually is more lenient than many.
Workplaces as diverse as the military, hospitals, police departments, courts and many private companies have policies forbidding visible tattoos and piercings while on the job.
Several tattooed employees contacted for this article said they would not talk about them because they feared workplace repercussions.
Bountiful recently joined the list of tattoo- and piercing-restrictive work environments. Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson confirmed the policy applies equally to the mayor and police as well as lawn mowers and the custodian who empties the mayor's garbage. Women may have earrings.
"If you have a tattoo that's not on your face, neck or hands, that's fine. When you work, you cover it," Johnson said. "When you go home, if you want to put an earring in, that's fine, but when you're working, you're working for us."
Johnson avoided the question of what precisely is unsuitable about tattoos or piercings in the workplace. He said repeatedly that people with tattoos aren't bad people and that he has friends with tattoos. The policy can be revised if it becomes a problem, he said.
A 2003 Harris Interactive online poll may explain why employers discourage body modifications.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents without tattoos said those with them are more rebellious. Around a third said those with them also are less attractive (42 percent), less sexy (36 percent), less intelligent (31 percent) and less spiritual (29 percent).
By comparison, 20 percent with tattoos said their body art made them feel more spiritual. Thirty-four percent said they feel more sexy. Fewer than a third said their tattoos made them feel more rebellious or attractive.
Jared Preslar, owner of Layton's Lucky Bamboo Tattoo, said he predicts anxiety about tattoos will subside as body modification infiltrates Utah's mainstream, a process he said has already begun.
"I tattoo LDS people almost every day and that's been a big difference from 10 years ago," Preslar said. "We even have people say their bishop approved it."
Body modification remains primarily a movement of the young.
A 2006 survey by Pew Research found 36 percent of people ages 18 to 25 have tattoos, while 40 percent of those 26 to 40 have one.
In the 41 to 64 years old group, only 10 percent had a tattoo.
"We're a bold bunch," said 47-year-old retired cop Paige Ansley of the over-40 tattooed crowd. Ansley's had tattoos for years, but they were not visible while on-duty with the Riverdale Police Department. Now she's free to ink-up at her job at Golden Spike Harley-Davidson in Ogden.
The tattoos are "permanent jewelry" that symbolize significant times in her life.
Ansley said policies like Bountiful's are understandable -- though she doesn't like them -- because they are working for and within a very conservative community. She obligingly covered her tattoos as a police officer, but a new piece of art on her forearm is difficult to cover.
"It's a compass rose, a nautical compass," she said. "I just got it this year. I was in law enforcement for 23 years, then I had to make a complete change in direction, so it's a compass about direction and staying the course."
While older tattooed workers may be resigned to hiding their ink at work, younger body modifiers are threatening to buck the status quo.
Tia Pendleton, 19, of Ogden, is tattooed all over and unrepentant about her ink. As an aspiring photographer or interior designer, she admits her body modifications -- including a piercing through her top lip -- may hinder her job search, but that won't stop her.
"Thinking of trying to find another job will be hard with all these tattoos, but I plan to get more," she said.
A tattoo that says DREAMS decorates her wrist, and flowers and stars dot her arms and back. The possible irony that Pendleton's conspicuous DREAMS tattoo could one day hinder her reaching her dreams is not lost on her, but it's a sacrifice she's willing to make.
"It reminds me of goals, things I want to accomplish," she said. "It reminds me to work on them every day ... but I worry about it (employers disliking it) all the time."
Curt Stewart, spokesman for Utah Workforce Services, said no one he spoke to in his bureau is aware of a "widespread panic from employers regarding tattoos" or piercings. Most businesses that use the service are seeking entry-level employees.
Stewart said job counselors at the service give little advice about tattoos and one in particular says nothing to people who couldn't cover them up.
"Basically she doesn't say much about their tattoos unless they're totally offensive," he said. "She urges sometimes to cover up, but as you know, there's a lot of people that can't hide them when they're going up the side of the neck. It's becoming a fact of the workplace in that respect."
Workforce Services' online grooming brochure coaches on fresh breath and neat hair, but also does not address tattoos or piercings.
Cal Udy, a labor relations representative with the American Federation of Teachers, represents school workers, including teachers and bus drivers, and is aware of any formal tattoo policy at school districts.
"If they went after one of my members with a tattoo, I'd fight back," he said. "Because I think they're violating civil rights. ... If (employers) want to tell (employees) what they can wear, let them furnish the uniform, but don't tell me how I can wear my hair or whether I can have a tattoo."
Anti-discrimination director Heather Morrison at the Utah Labor Commission said religious rights are the only ones recognized in protecting body modifications.
"Employers are very comfortable with making a disability accommodation, but they're equally required to make a religious accommodation on an as-needed basis," she said.
Religious accommodations for tattoos or piercings may not be needed very often, however, as few mainstream religions forbid the covering of tattoos, Morrison said.
Only a few lesser-known religions may fall into that category.
In 2005, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers paid $125,000 in a court settlement with an employee who challenged the anti-tattoo policy on religious grounds. The server's religion was Kemet, a revival of ancient Egyptian spirituality.
The server argued that covering up his tattoos -- even at work -- is sacrilege in his faith. The judge affirmed the case for trial, but it was settled days before a jury was to decide whether the policy violated his religious rights.
Public and private employers -- Morrison said anti-discrimination laws apply identically to both -- may want to write an explicit religious exception into their policy, but it's not required.
Attorney Brian Barnard, a standard bearer of civil rights lawsuits in Utah, agreed businesses have a right to make appearance demands from employees. He also agreed that an employee's religion is probably the only factor that might force an employer to make an accommodation.
"(Body modification) is a matter of choice, a matter of appearance and it would not implicate employment policies," he said. "In this day and age, one would have to question the wisdom of such a (policy), but it's not unconstitutional."
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I think people should not judge poeple because of their tattoos or piercings, I want snakebite piercings and i know it won't affect my work rate or productivity. If you have a tattoo/piercing be proud of it! Stand up for what you believe in! Don't judge...