Employers study policy on body art

For employers, body art is in the eye of the beholder.
FRESNO BEE
Matthew Fabrizio looks like any other 20-something. He's hip, energetic and hopeful about his future. And like many of his generation, he's tattooed and pierced.
Fabrizio, a 23-year-old collgeg grad, said he hopes people can appreciate his body art and not pass judgment on him or his abilities to do his job --he tutors young children with disabilities.
Tattoos may not be an issue for Fabrizio or his employer, Behavioral Intervention Association of Fresno, Calif., but they are for a growing number of employers who are increasingly having to deal with a younger work force that is inked and pierced.
A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that 36 percent of those between ages 20 and 31 had a tattoo, and 32 percent had a body piercing.
The 2004 study surveyed more than 500 people nationwide.
"Every generation has their thing. In the '60s, it was long hair, and in the '70s, it was bad fashion," said Mark Keppler, human resources professor at California State University, Fresno.
Keppler and other workplace experts say that while body art may be fashionable and embraced in some specialized job markets, many employers are less likely to allow their workers to sport lip rings.
How much an employee shows depends on the customers a company hopes to attract and the workers it is trying to recruit, experts said.
Approaches
Gary Janzen, president of Janzen IdeaCorp, an advertising, marketing and public relations company in Fresno, said businesses trying to lure young, creative people may want to loosen their dress code policies.
"To restrict it too much might be counterproductive," said Janzen, who doesn't have a formal dress code policy but prefers to deal with body art on a case-by-case basis. His clients feel the same way. Some accept it; others don't.
But, while some companies may be amending their dress code policies, others are making them more restrictive. Legal experts said companies can amend their dress code policies to restrict body art, but they must apply the new rules consistently and without religious bias.
"As long as you go about it properly, you can do it," said Talar Herculian, a Southern California employment law attorney. "What I like to tell my clients is they should really think carefully about what their goals and purposes are. If they want to maintain a certain image for customer relations purposes, then they can create a policy that supports that."