Summer Dress Codes… or When is Too Little Too Much?

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By J Rollins
Founder and CEO of ETHIX360

As I write this, the heat index in Washington DC, where I live, is close to 100 degrees.  It is sweltering, humid and downright miserable.  So I reflected on our staff, and the thousands of others suffering in the dog days of summer, and how employers relax their dress codes – and more importantly how even a relaxed dress code can be abused or create a recipe for sexual harassment in the workplace.

In fact, employees across the country are rolling up their sleeves and perhaps even wearing tank tops, shorts, halter dresses, shoes with no socks, or flip-flops to work. But are they exposing more skin, tattoos, and/or piercing than is appropriate?

Workplace attire is a rising issue among most employers. How the employees dress and present themselves to clients can have an impact on your business. In fact, it can even affect your employee’s health and safety.

While conservative workplace attire has been the norm for many years, many employers have relaxed their year-round dress codes in an effort to perk up morale and improve employee retention. Casual dress codes are more prevalent in the workplace in response to employees’ requests for relaxed, flexible work environments. In fact, according to a 2013 Society for Human Resource Management employee benefits survey, 23% of organizations now allow casual seasonal dress.

As the summer temperatures start to rise, and more tolerance is given or standards relaxed, now is the appropriate time to remind your employees about what is permitted when it comes to the summer dress code policy.

Here’s something you may want to consider.  It comes as a surprise to most employers that discrimination laws may limit your choices on what is appropriate workplace dress for your organization. This means that you have wide discretion when it comes to setting appearance standards, so long as they do not violate an employee’s religious or ethnic beliefs, practices, or physical disability.

For example, you may enforce regulations such as those barring tattoos or piercings. Although tattoos and piercings may be examples of employee self-expression, they are not usually a form of religious or racial expression and hence not restricted under the federal discrimination laws.

However, certain dress codes and appearance restrictions may be termed discriminatory if they interfere with an employee’s observance of religious practices such as head coverings or target a particular group of employees such as women, those who experience physical disabilities, or minorities.

Can your business’s dress code prohibit jeans, shorts, short skirts, t-shirts with logos or advertising, halter dresses, tight-fitting clothes, exercise attire, flip-flops? Short answer—Yes. Even the most casual businesses expect their employees to use common sense in selecting business attire no matter what the weather.

One issue that seems to always come to play in relaxed summer attire is that tattoos never before seen in the workplace get revealed, and frankly they should stay covered.  And before anyone starts screaming that this is discrimination due to the tattoo, I want to say that, yes, yes it probably is. But discrimination, in and of itself, is not illegal, nor immoral. Hopefully, your workplace discriminates against people who are incompetent or lazy. Tattoos are something you choose to get; they are not an innate characteristic. Some people just don’t like them. Anyone choosing to spend their time and money getting jabbed repeatedly with a needle full of ink on a conspicuous patch of skin should be aware of the fact that it may have some effect on their future.

6 COMMENTS

  1. I have never truly believed in standard dress codes, skirts must be only be so high above the knee, no shorts, no tanks, wear sensible shoes, etc. Hold each person accountable to a standard that they are professionals and should act as such, short of the requirement being a regulatory requirement such as OSHA. Is this open to interpretation, yes it is and so is our policy. If we feel an employee may be pushing the line address it with that one employee just make sure you are concise and fair in YOUR judgments. Don’t make 50 other employees feel like they need to be treated like teenagers or they can’t dress themselves in order to keep a handful of employees dressing respectfully for the environment. COACH your employees to know what to expect from their employers in addition to knowing what there employers should expect from them. I learned what was expected of a professional from a professional not a policy, give the majority of people credit that they can too.

  2. While I agree with most of what you have said, I must take exception to your saying that “…a relaxed dress code can…create a recipe for sexual harassment in the workplace.” Clothing, whether piled on in layers, or barely enough to cover the body, has nothing to do with sexual harassment. Anyone who uses the excuse that their victim brought on harassment by what they were wearing is deflecting. Sexual harassment can be the result of many things, including lack of respect, the need to dominate, immaturity, insecurity, attitudes about a person’s role in society or the workplace, or just being mean or a bully. Relaxing dress codes do not CAUSE sexual harassment.

      • I appreciate your comment. Not ever having walked in the shoes of a victim of harassment, I can only observe. My hope is that we will all treat others with dignity and respect.

  3. Nice, thought-provoking article Mr. Rollins. I have read between the lines that you are one of the many, lets say, older generation who only saw tattoos on sailors and criminals. Times have changed, and will almost certainly change again. I would ask you to observe just how many people (specially women) nowadays have a tattoo(s). I would bet they are in the majority. Gone are the days of 3-piece suits and trilby hats; heck, one could even argue that allowing for a more relaxed business casual during very hot summers might even reduce the need for cranking up the air-conditioning. Allow the wearing of shorts and polo shirts; if it’s good enough for a conservative golf membership, it’s good enough for working in an office. P.S. relaxing dress codes might enflame the passions of men to a level of increased sexual harassment, is the very argument that the Koran puts forward in the dress code of women under Sharia Law. How about addressing the proper behavior and decency in the workplace as opposed to putting this, as usual on the woman. I’ve never heard so much tosh!

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