While body art may be beautiful, it could still hinder career goals
Your ink could be a black mark on your resume.
As younger would-be workers enter the job market for the first time, some have been surprised to find potential employers are free to discriminate against them if the potential employee has visible tattoos, studs or other body art.
While tattoos and body piercings are increasingly becoming mainstream, even among white-collar professionals, in some venues they are still not accepted.
Many have made decisions to have body modifications,” said John Rindy, director of career education and development at Slippery Rock University.
“I try to remind them that whether it's a typo on a resume or not wanting to leave Butler or getting body modifications, there's going to be an increase or a decrease in your attractiveness on the job market,” Rindy said.
While what you do to adorn your body is a right to freedom of expression, the courts consistently have said that right may stop at an employer's door.
An employer can refuse to hire a candidate or can demand a candidate cover up or remove the decoration as a condition of employment, or can fire an employee for failing to follow the workplace appearance code.
Case law generally agrees that employers can set the appearance standards that they want. Things that are deemed “mutable characteristics” generally can be dictated.
Attorney Leo Stepanian II of Butler said, “The simplest guide is it's discrimination if it's things people can't help: race, sexual orientation, skin color.”
“To my knowledge, you can discriminate against someone with a tattoo, something they chose,” said Stepanian.
In Pennsylvania, a person must be 18 to get a tattoo. If they are under 18, the customer needs parental consent, said Michael Reams, the owner and artist of Crayons, 9103 Marshall Road, Cranberry Township, which opened Nov. 1.
Reams, who has operated an original location in Rochester for 17 years, said he won't tattoo someone under 18 even with parental consent because “it's just not worth it.”Nor will he tattoo someone who is under the influence.Reams said that situation doesn't come up often, because people don't just drop in for a tattoo on a whim.He said most customers make appointments and have well-thought out designs that can take multiple sessions to complete.“Most work takes a session of three to five hours,” said Reams. “And there can be multiple sessions for a tattoo covering a large area like a thigh.”Modern technology has taken most, if not all of the sting, out of getting a tattoo, Reams said.“Nowadays, it's more irritating. It does not make you scream or act out. That's for TV,” he added.Reams said the average age of his customers ranges from 25 to 45. It's also 60 to 75 percent female.“We get more women than men, definitely,” he said.Reams said, “Flowers with some text, writing, is most popular among female clients.”
Still, the tattoo is permanent, Reams said, and can only be removed with expensive and lengthy treatments.“You can cover tattoos, but they are always there,” said Rindy. “I've had a 19-year-old woman tell me, 'I'll get it where people can't see it. I'll get it on my shoulder.'”Rindy said that while a blouse might hide her tattoo at work now, in the future “if she's promoted to vice president that might mean evening functions in a strapless gown.”In fact, Rindy said, studies show that 40 percent of people seeking tattoo removals cite employment reasons for the action.Richelle Rikal-Hartley, director of sales and marketing for Unlimited Staffing, 264 Moraine Pointe Plaza, a recruitment and staffing service, said employers have asked that applicants with piercings or other adornments be eliminated for consideration, but for reasons of safety not aesthetics.“The one thing I will tell you in the light industrial field, it's not appearance or image, it's a safety issue, especially working with heat or heavy materials.”“They don't want the liability. Piercings can rip if they get caught on something. In intense heat, piercings can become a danger.”But Unlimited Staffing also fills clerical positions, she said.“I do think in the clerical realm if you are a front-facing person, you don't want to offend anybody,” said Rikal-Hartley.
Rindy said, “I've found that if you are working with people's kids, money or health, these are the big three where appearance can count.”Rindy said there is little research to indicate that body modifications are becoming more accepted in the workplace.“Well, it does not matter if you read Forbes or the Huffington Post, you are going to get a variety of opinions and not a whole lot of data. One 'expert' says this and another 'expert' says something else,” he said.For those articles that provided data, the percentage of employers that found tattoos to be “acceptable” ranged from 30 percent in one article to 70 percent in another.One article even stated that while the blue collar and art and entertainment world might have embraced the tattoo, most workplaces today still would err on the side of not hiring someone with visible tattoos, Rindy noted.More visible tattoos are becoming more prevalent, according to Reams.“In the past, tattoos have stayed under clothing. It's a little more outside the clothing nowadays,” said Reams.“I'm really excited how respectable most tattoo shops have become,” he said. “If they are like me, they are not out to make a buck. It's art.”“Is tattooing becoming more acceptable?” said Rindy, “Maybe ... maybe not. I suppose each job seeker simply has to understand that, for now, tattoos are still a personal choice which, in some cases, could limit their employability.”
