No beard policy for dining room

Paul in Cannon Beach

I work for a non-profit religious retreat center in Oregon. Our food service manager wants to have a policy that prohibits males from wearing a goatee or beard when working in our dining room. A trim mustache would be OK.

Something about this policy doesn't sit well with me. Before I go and speak to my manager about this, I wanted to see what you guys thought. Any of you have a similar policy or can point out what potential problems might arise out of this? Thanks!

[email]paulknoch@hotmail.com[/email]

Terry

While I understand the manager would like to prohibit beards, mostly likely for sanitary reasons, it would not be wise to completely restrict them. Case law has shown that some men belonging to certain ethnic groups have legitimate skin problems caused by shaving. By having a "no beard policy", the manager could potentially be discriminating against a protected class because of this business practice. I would recommend he consider a specific grooming policy associated with beards instead of banning them altogether.

Theresa Gegen TX

And just because you work for a non-profit religious retreat does not mean that you would not run afoul of religious discrimination laws (for example if one of your employees had a religion that required beards).

For many jobs, religious organizations do not have to worry about religious discrimination (for example, religious teachers and counselors can be required to be a member of the religion), but as this job (food service) is clearly secular in nature, you may run afoul of the law.

Good Luck!

Paul in Cannon Beach

Thanks for your comments. I will meet with my food service manager next week and suggest we change the policy to "neatly trimmed beards and mustaches" rather than a blanket prohibition.

Its nice to have this sounding board!

paulknoch@hotmail

WOCO Frank

We have a beard ban on food service workers, with a provision that we will find equivalent but alternate duties for anyone who can provide religious or medical evidence necessitating a beard. We have several hundred employees, but not one has even asked what evidence would be required.