Can you control what your employees must wear, or prohibit certain attire?

Definitive answer: maybe yes, maybe no. Depends primarily on the employee’s professed religion.

The EEOC has released some “guidance” which may be of help to you, although you’re probably not going to like it.

The key determinative factor is religion-based preference, requirement, or prohibition. If an employee’s religion requires or prohibits specified dress or appearance, the employer typically has little choice but to go along with it.

Examples include wearing religious symbols (a cross hung around one’s neck, or a Muslim hajib), facial hair requirements (typically required of Muslims and Orthodox Jews), and a prohibition against too-revealing attire.

This makes us wonder whether an otherwise qualified Muslim woman who insisted on wearing a hajib (veil) and burka (full-body cloak), based on religious requirements, could not be declined employment as a Hooter’s waitress.

Want to argue that the employee’s religion, which just happens to be Chrijewmusliana, is one you never heard of, and is uncommon, not part of a formal religion, and practiced by only a few people? Sorry, it’s been tried, and failed.

Just about the only clothing policies you can enforce are those that constitute a severe hardship, or are of considerable difficulty or expense, or involve workplace safety, health or security issues.

Finally, what about uniform requirements, or “company image” that you’re trying to establish in a consistent manner? Maybe, maybe not. It’s been tried and failed in a lawsuit involving Abercrombie & Fitch.

Even though Mickey Mouse at Disneyland clearly has to wear the Mickey Mouse costumer (unless he’s the real Mickey Mouse!), it can be a lot harder to pass muster for mandatory compliance with a specified “uniform”, if it conflicts with almost any kind of religious edict.

The information presented is not intended to be, and does not constitute, “legal advice.” Because each situation varies, and only brief summary information is provided here, you should not use this information as a basis for action unless you have independently verified with your own counsel that it applies to your particular situation.