This article examines federal court rulings that may limit an employer's ability to impose organizational appearance policies/dress codes. We focus on allegations that such policies unlawfully discriminate against individual employees on the basis of their race, religion, sex, or national origin (ethnicity). The newest tactic involves the use of sex stereotyping to challenge employment policies differentiating "male" behavior and "female" behavior in the workplace. A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, Jespersen v. Harrah's Operating Company, Inc., suggests that federal courts may still permit employers to set standards for their employees, even if those standards differ for male and female employees, provided that certain conditions have first been met.
Article
Employee Appearance Policies and TITLE VII: New Challenges for Sex Differentiated Standards.
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2007
Disciplines
Abstract
Language
en_US
Publisher
Baywood Pub. Co.
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
Citation Information
Robinson, R.K., Franklin, G.M., Epermanis, K., & Stowell, N.F. (2007). Employee appearance policies and Title VII: New challenges for sex differentiated standards. Journal of Individual Employment Rights, 12(4), 287-302.
Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Journal of Individual Employment Rights, 12(4) 287-302, 2007. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided below.