Questionable Tattoo

Jewel · September 2004

Hi Everyone!

Here's one for Friday afternoon:

A male EE has a tattoo of a fully naked, very well endowed lady, that stretches from his wrist to his elbow.

The tattoo has made some employees uncomfortable so he's now "dressing" the women with a bikini every day by drawing on his arm in pen.

While management understands his desire for self expression, we were wondering if we could require him to wear long sleeves while at work. However, he's mentioned in passing that he doesn't like long sleeves because he gets too warm while wearing them (he works on the floor).

How would you handle this one!

Thanks!

pork1 · September 2004

JEWEL: In the world of Tattoo, these days I believe I would leave the situation alone. Obviously, the individual understands he is in a mixed world of work and is doing something about any obscene by covering the vital parts with a bikini. Unless he is makeing the model do obscene things with muscle expandion and contractions then leave him to more important things until there is a need to crack the whip or beat him over the head with something!

PORK

Don D · September 2004

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-10-04 AT 03:09PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I would tell him to either wear long sleeves or fully cover the tatoo while on company property. A naked lady at work is inappropriate (live, drawing, photo, illustration, caricature). A lady in a bikini at work is inappropriate. Both easily could be offensive, and there you go with a sexual harassment charge or at minimum, uncomfortable fellow workers. Tell him if he thinks it's warm here, wait till he feels the temperature down at the UI office.

(edit) Unless he has some sort of war injury or birth defect, I can't think of a muscle between his wrist and his elbow that would make 'her' do anything obscene, but Pork has my imagination running wild.

Yahoo · September 2004

I used to work at a casino - any exposed tattoos had to be covered by a bandage of some sort. We had a dealer with a similar situation - tattoo on the arm (not the naked lady!) and he wore an Ace Bandage over his forarm daily. An alternative to wearing long sleeves....

Elle · September 2004

I would probably leave it alone and wait to see how the employees react to him "dressing" the woman. Hopefully, the drawn on bikini will make the uncomfortable employees not so uncomfortable. Also, I would reassure him that drawing on the bikini may becoming a daily necessity, if of course it makes everyone happy.

Good luck.

safety · September 2004

>The tattoo has made some employees uncomfortable
>so he's now "dressing" the women with a bikini
>every day by drawing on his arm in pen.
>

Do you mean that there was a complaint made about the tattoo by another employee?

If there was a complaint made and in your investigation you discovered this tattoo it would seem that your only choice would be to instruct the ee to cover up the offensive body art or find another job.

ScorpioHR · September 2004

This kind of situation makes me sorry I ever got into HR. At least in accounting at the end of the day 2 + 2 still equals 4.
Why people cannot grasp the principal that WORK is work and not play and dress up and express yourself time, completely baffles me. I spend more time explaining our dress code, acceptable body adornments, etc etc than should be required. I think it is pitiful and you should tell your ee that the tattoo is to be covered up during work hours, period.

SMace · September 2004

Has "dressing" the tatoo made the uncomfortable people comfortable? If not, long sleeves or bandage.

Rockie · September 2004

This type of tattoo should be covered. It could be very offensive to some individuals and maybe even lead to a sexual harassment suit if not addressed properly. If this guy doesn't want to wear long sleeves, I think the ace bandage solution is great!

In our quest to dress individuals appropriately for the workplace, one item in our policy is that large and/or inappropriate tattoos should be covered during work hours. Same thing with nose rings, brow rings or other such body piercings. They should be removed during work hours.

I remember the days when you only had to address the length of someone's skirt!

ScorpioHR · September 2004

Oh Boy Rockie! Me too :-)

Jewel · September 2004

Thanks everybody! I'm going to request that this EE cover the tatoo during work hours and give him the options of long sleeves or an ace bandage.

More than once, we've had EE's run into the Operation Managers office exclaiming "Oh my God - did you see his tattoo!!!" which is why they feel they need to address the situtation.

Jewel

pork1 · September 2004

Jewel: I would be carefull with the ace bandage, he might wrap it to tightly and cut off the blood circulation, which might cause loss of feeling in the hand and fingers, and accidently run his hand into the crushing machine or worse cause a blood clot and pass the clot to the heart and pass out on the floor which caused five employees to stomble and fall over his body and etc., etc. A big bandaid might work. Will the company provide?

Good Luck, dancing muscles up and down, right and left, I used to be able to do that with my muscles when I had some. Properly placed a dancing tattoo could be interesting.

PORK

dchr9203 · September 2004

Make him cover it up. He can either wear a long sleeve, or use a large bandage.

Don D · September 2004

I don't know that I would allow an 'ace bandage' or anything that appears to be a 'medical wrap'. Depending on what your industry is, you may well not want to signal to the public that an employee has a large portion of his arm or the entire arm injured, infected, burned, etc. This could cost you customers. With a person of his 'mindset' (ahould I say mentality?) he will stretch the ace idea to white tape to pink ribbon to assorted other novel approaches to self-expression. Tell him to wear long sleeves and move on.

Whirlwind · September 2004

Here's one more option to long sleeves or unslightly bandages: Covermark, a product that according to their website, is a "concealer to cover skin blemishes, vericose veins, birthmarks, and tattoos."

Jewel · September 2004

That's an interesting idea. It would just be so much easier if he'd just wear long sleeves and be done with it!

mrbill · September 2004

If it is offensive (and it certainly appears to be), then you must take action. If you do not, then you will have allowed it, and you will find it more difficult to stop a future occurrence.
Do not let the inmates run the prison...

P.S. I do not think that I would want to paint my forearm every day.

Jewel · September 2004

But just think of the possibilities by painting your arm. You could color coordinate your outfits!! 8-}

Questionable Tattoo

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