As a business owner, you may feel that a dress code will be useful for your growing company. It helps customers quickly identify staff members. It gives the business a more professional atmosphere. It makes people feel like they are members of a team.
It is legal for you to institute a dress code, but you need to be sure that you do it the right way. Above all else, the dress code must impact all employees equally, and there should be no sign of discrimination.
Equal application for all employees
For instance, you could run into legal trouble if you set up a dress code for all of your female employees, but you tell all of your male employees that they can continue to wear whatever they would like to work. There is clearly a double standard based on the employees’ gender, which can be a form of gender discrimination.
As such, you must stipulate that the dress code applies to everyone. There may be slightly different regulations, but everyone should have the same general rules to follow, and no groups or protected classes should be targeted.
In some cases, there can be an indirect form of discrimination, even if that is not what you intended. For instance, say that you want to ban headwear in the workplace as part of your dress code. However, the only employees who actually wear headwear are those who belong to a certain religion, for whom it is required. They may feel that this is religious discrimination because, although the rule technically applies to all employees, they are the only ones who have to change how they dress. The disparate impact of the rule can be discrimination.
Addressing a dispute
It is very important to put a dress code together correctly and legally. Even if you believe that is what you have done, disputes do sometimes arise, and you must understand your legal options.