work and hair colour [Archive]

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 20:36

just splicing out from my blog slightly with this.... says in my employment handbook that hair colour should be kept discreet....

i'm due into work tomorrow, what grounds are there if any that they could suspend me on? i'm aware my hair is not exactly discreetly coloured but surely suspending someone for their hair colour is slightly discriminatory...

also, would they be able to, i know that many many people flount the laws of this handbook regularly, tongue piercings are banned and at least 3 people have these, and mobile phones are not on the shopfloor yet i have seen the managers themselves on them on more than one occasion...

so, do i have any rights if they want to stop me working there, or do i have to just put up with it? :erm:

Chris W

11-04-2005, 20:42

punky

11-04-2005, 20:43

To be honest... No.

You agreed to abide by the rules when you took the job on, which meant keeping your hair discreet.

You can't really argue that other people break the rules, as its upto the management's discretion how they enforce them. If someone was in a similar situation as you, but a difference race, you might be able to argue race discrimination, but the courts would probably still rule in the management's discretion.

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 20:43

unfortunately "other people break the rules" is no defence....

I can't see how it can be viewed as discriminatory as it is not your natural hair colour- yes, stating that ginger hair was not allowed would be discrimination, but asking that colours be discreet is not. However, personally i wouldn't say that vibrant orange hair is discreet that might drag this off topic :erm: :p:

personally i dont really care whether they suspend me or not, i am sick and tired of working there now :) just want to know where i stand, i know i will have an argument..... ah well ;)

gary_580

11-04-2005, 20:44

i'm due into work tomorrow, what grounds are there if any that they could suspend me on? i'm aware my hair is not exactly discreetly coloured but surely suspending someone for their hair colour is slightly discriminatory...

Who is it discriminating against? It can only be discriminatory if the persons hair is naturally not discreet. Other than that the person has chosen to colour their hair and therefore has chosen to break the rules.

punky

11-04-2005, 20:45

personally i dont really care whether they suspend me or not, i am sick and tired of working there now :) just want to know where i stand, i know i will have an argument..... ah well ;)

They'll probably keep sending you home without pay until the hair colour is changed. When they get bored of you, they'll fire you. TBH though it would look better for future employment if you resign first, rather than get fired for insubordination.

gary_580

11-04-2005, 20:48

mind you, you could argue that you wanted to make the older generation feel at home so you had a blue rinse. ;)

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 20:51

;) blue rinse but mixed it a bit strong :p:

the paragraph that refers to hair is as follows:

Hairstyles must be kept neat and tidy. Long hair should be tied back and hair colour and makeup should be discreet reflecting the professional image we wish to give to our customers.

as it happens i am leaving there at the start of june anyway, i'm just interested in any possible repercussions my "conservative" hair colour will have ;)

punky

11-04-2005, 21:08

as it happens i am leaving there at the start of june anyway, i'm just interested in any possible repercussions my "conservative" hair colour will have ;)

Well, causing a ruck in principal is fine to a point, but if you resign, you can give your new prospective boss any old toffee, when he asks you why. However, if you have to put down on your CV that you were sacked, when he asks you, you have to be honest, as he'll check it out (if you resign, you don't need to tell your old boss why). You'll struggle to get work after being fired for insubordination... What boss would want to take that on? You could spin it as a point of principal, but most bosses won't like that. They want you to do what they tell you, rather than what you'd want to do.

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 21:15

oh i haven't dyed my hair and caused a fuss as a point of principle, i have already handed my resignation letter in effective from the start of june, so they know i am leaving. several members of the middle/lower management and all of the shopfloor staff knew i was going blue as well, i was originally gonna do it a couple of weeks ago but chickened out :erm:

i just wanted to know how seriously im gona get in trouble, i have no interest in causing problems cos some of the time its an ok place to work :)

ill give them a ring before my shift starts tomorrow and see what they say :)

me283

11-04-2005, 21:26

;) blue rinse but mixed it a bit strong :p:

the paragraph that refers to hair is as follows:

as it happens i am leaving there at the start of june anyway, i'm just interested in any possible repercussions my "conservative" hair colour will have ;)

I think the key here is just what is defined as "discreet". Also, they mention that you should be reflecting their professional image, and you could claim (although I doubt you would win) that hair colour does not impact that image... not knowing what you do, it's hard to tell.

As a last resort (holds breath to wait for mudslinging!)... you could always claim it's your "human right" to have coloured hair... seems commonplace to fall back on that one these days ;)

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 21:50

i work as a shopfloor assistant at homebase. to be honest, professional image is dubious in that respect. every single shift i am on my knees cleaning up paint that some inbred customer has put in their basket thats not designed for big cans of paint and dropped....

bitter? moi? never ;)

i've put another layer of dye in now and its gone a bit more inky like its supposed to, but we will see. in truth, i doubt they would do much they are fairly relaxed about everything, and they are always woefully short staffed... (staff turnover is obscenely high...)
__________________

i wouldnt dare go down the human rights lane either, i would burst out laughing before i even got to a tribunal... :erm:

paulyoung666

11-04-2005, 21:55

go for it then , try it on with them , you will soon find out if they are serious or not ;) :D :D :D

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 21:57

im sure my hair colour doesnt really impinge the customer service i give anyway... if anything my CS level will go up, since everyone will be able to recognise "that one with the blue hair"..... so i will have to be a lot more helpful as i will be more recognisable LOL

Halcyon

11-04-2005, 22:02

They probably wouldnt sack your straight away, just tell you to get it changed.

Alanmelon

11-04-2005, 22:28

Just get a wig...

Dave Stones

11-04-2005, 22:37

Just get a wig...

:dozey:

i had a pink wig on not so long ago, ill try to root out the pic... wonder if they will allow that ;)

danielf

11-04-2005, 22:41

i work as a shopfloor assistant at homebase. to be honest, professional image is dubious in that respect.

http://www.davestones.com/blue/IMG_0455.jpg

Looks like a professional job to me... :shrug:

chambece

11-04-2005, 23:02

Dave,

A link for you, I know not quite on topic, but you should get a bit of an idea....

It explicitly mentions blue hair - go get yourself some money!!

http://www.bmezine.com/news/legal/20050407.html

Edit:
Another one
http://www.bmezine.com/news/guest/20040405.html

Maggy

11-04-2005, 23:14

Bluddy hell! I thought this sort of thing only happened in school.

Truly pathetic...To think I would give a t*ss that someone selling me paint had blue hair...That's really really taking the p*ss. :rolleyes:

In a bank or such a place yes but in a hardware store?

chambece

11-04-2005, 23:23

As an aside, a friend of mine works for tescos, and she used to get away with some of her hair colours by virtue of the fact she bought them from there and that therefore were 'normal' in some respect.

When I did my hair 'black' it came out a rather blue-y, admitedly not quite the luminescence of yours, but it looks cool anyway!!

I personally like this one....
http://www.davestones.com/blue/IMG_0438.jpg
__________________

Just looking through your site - Did they say anything when you dyed your hair red?

greencreeper

11-04-2005, 23:52

On a dress-down day I went to work in a rainbow tie-dye t-shirt. The boss pointed out that my dress was inappropriate. Smart casual for dress-down days - my t-shirt was not smart casual. Hmmm. My contract of employment states that clothes have to clean and ironed, and that I have to be clean (though not ironed) and without adornments such as odd hair or piercings. So think yourself lucky :)

[edit] My work is phone support - no face to face contact with customers. You can understand why they're so strict :erm:

Dave Stones

12-04-2005, 09:21

they didn't say a word when i did my hair red. i actually asked permission from my line manager to do my hair red, and he said "i don't know why you even asked... you obviously have to come in now so we can all laugh at you"...
__________________

well i've just phoned up work and my manager seems "ok" with it. he said i should have got permission first, but he also said that if anyone asks, i did it "for charity" ;)

so, we will see :)
__________________

well, i say he was ok with it. wasn't exactly ok with it but they are letting me in, no doubt to all have a good laugh :)

zoombini

12-04-2005, 09:30

TBH unless your in front line sales, where you have to make an impression for the company IMO it should not matter a jot what colour your hair OR clothes are.

As for the bit about long hair being tied back, is that just the men?
Coz if it's so then that can be ignored straight away.

We have that same rule here, women are allowed to do what they wish with thier hair but if a man has long hair it must be tied back with a band etc. (pretty ribbon :D ).
So someone challenged it mentioning sexual discrimination & now goes around with his long hair untied.

Have a look & see if there are any Goth babes about with Purple hair :D

Dave Stones

12-04-2005, 09:31

nah not wirh purple hair. one of the checkout ladies regularly dyes her hair black and has two bright red streaks at the front though :)

mine's slightly more offensive than that though :erm: