This has been discussed ad nauseum in other threads, check the search feature.

As far as your job goes, You agreed to work in a place based on a few factors including pay, Hours, benefits, and yes, dress code. If you agreed to this job under these conditions you should live up to your word- Meaning, if you really want to show your tats go get a job that allow you to show your tats. If not, keep them hidden while at work.

I would trust your tattoo artists’ opinion about the law as much as I would trust his/her opinion about medicine- Not at all.

Here’s what I came up with using another really useful search engine called Google:

Hiding tattoos is important in corporate America

Many tattooed people think that they are protected by their First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. Unfortunately, this is not true in the workplace.

Corporations have every right to discriminate against “optional” appearance-related traits, and many large corporations ban long hair, beards and visible tattoos.

As a corporate manager myself, I’ve seen that hiding a tattoo is not enough. I’ve seen cases where an employee reveals a tattoo at a company softball game to the horror and disgust of their manager, who, in turn, find other reasons to terminate the employee. If you live in an employment “at will” state, remember that you can be fired for no reason at all.

First Amendment Freedom of Expression and Tattoo laws

This article titled “Body art in the workplace” confirms that companies have a constitutional right to ban employees with tattoos:

Companies can limit employees’ personal expression on the job as long as they do not impinge on their civil liberties. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers are allowed to impose dress codes and appearance policies as long as they do not discriminate or hinder a person’s race, color, religion, age, national origin, or gender.

There is a strong legal basis for discriminating against the tattooed, especially if the employers fears that having tattooed employees might hurt their professional image:

In the landmark court case Pik-Wik Stores, Inc. v. CHRO, the Connecticut Supreme Court established the standard for reviewing dress codes under the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act.

In Pik-Wik, an employee complained about a grooming standard that required men to wear their hair “off the collar and above the ears.” The employee argued that the policy discriminated against him on the basis of gender because women were not subject to the same standard. The court rejected the argument concluding that the grooming standard was non-discriminatory because it did not deny equal employment opportunities on the basis of an immutable characteristic, e.g., sex, race, national origin, disability or religion.

This Kentucky case verified that employers can fire employees who have exposed tattoos:

A dress code that required tucked-in shirts and covered tattoos for Kentucky State Parks employees did not violate the civil rights of three fired maintenance workers, a federal appeals court ruled.

However, regardless of the legalities and rights of people to look like a convict, many states have “at will” laws. These statutes allow you to quit at any time, for any reason, and allows corporations to fire employees at any time, for any reason, or no reason at all.

Are attitudes towards tattoos changing?

This WSJ article titled “Tattoos and Piercings
Come Out at the Office”, notes that attitudes in corporate America may be changing to become more tolerant of tattoos in the lower ranks, and the prejudice towards tattoo owners is also fading, but “discrete” tattoos still remain the most popular:

“Mr. Hempel, the Inverness lawyer, says he “doesn’t flaunt his tattoos around the office.” According to a 2001 survey on tattoos in the workplace from the Internet site Vault.com, which deals with work issues, the most popular placements of tattoos are areas that can be hidden: the backs, arms and legs.”

COMPANY TATTOO POLICY COMMENT
Boeing
Chicago “Non-offensive” tattoos permitted “I’ve seen people at all levels with tattoos and piercings,” says spokeswoman Barbara Murphy.
White & Case
New York City None “There are undoubtedly people who have tattoos (but) it’s certainly not conspicuous,” says spokesperson Roger Cohen.
Wal-Mart Stores
Bentonville, Ark. “Non-offensive” tattoos OK to show “If they’re not offensive, I don’t see it as an issue,” says spokesman Thomas Williams.
Tenet Healthcare
Santa Barbara, Calif. None “The key point in our policy is that the appearance must be appropriate to the position,” says spokes-person Steven Campanini. “What we do is rely on local hospitals to enforce what is appropriate.”
Ford Motor
Dearborn, Mich. “Non-offensive” tattoos permitted “It’s left up to people to use their own discretion,” said spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari.
Subway Restaurants
Milford, Conn. Discrete tattoos permitted Company literature specifies: “Non-dangling earrings in the ears only. Any other visible parts of body may not be adorned with jewelry.”
This article it also talks about a senior executive at Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. who has tattoos and is rather proud of the fact.

For more insights, please see my related notes on Professional Dress Code, Professional dress and Tattoos, Professional Perks, etiquette requirements, Cross-Cultural Guidelines, forum guidelines and obfuscation requirements, Inappropriate corporate sponsorship of charities, professional golf etiquette and Professional Corporate Tipping tips

I have to agree with the whole “employer” makes the rules as much as it sucks they lay down the law. Here in the states you can be inked to high hell and be in the armed forces as long as they do not go past the “rubber band” test witch is a rubber band placed on your wrist and the tat can not extend past it, but an employer can fire you for having the smallest visible ink if they so deem it. I think its BS but thats how it is.
On the other hand it sounds like there is a bit of discrimination going on here if they men in the company are not being questioned about there body are yet you are. Id be pointing that out to your boss, in a mellow manner that is, if the rule is being stressed for one it should be stressed for all.

Thanks Al !!! Wish my girlfriend would stop laughing about you saying that tho lol She says if only you knew me:eek:

um extremely blunt from what Ive been told …. unpoliticaly correct blunt to be exact lol
😀

I’m really lucky in as much my boss doesn’t care about my ink being visible, and it usually is, especially as we now have some decent weather. I have both upper arms and a decent sized upper back piece – all uncovered at work. I just wear thin strapped tee shirts and as long as I wear white as in company policy no one cares. The only time I cover them is winter, when it’s cold, or if we have visitors coming, who may mean more work for us. I do stress that my boss has never asked me to cover up, I do it out of courtesy. However he does say I am, in his words “Physcologically damaged having all those tattoos!” Doesn’t stop him asking about them though!

I have more ink than any of the men that work there, and so has my daughter who also works with me.