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1. FEATURE STORY:
DRESS CODE DILEMMAS: MINOR PROBLEMS OR
LAWSUITS WAITING TO HAPPEN?

An employee showing up to work wearing a baseball cap, in violation of your company's dress code, is one thing. It's easy enough to tell the hat-wearing employee, "Don't do it again," expect a little resistance, and then compliance. An employee wearing a headscarf due to a religious observance when any type of head covering is prohibited is entirely another dress code dilemma. Not as easy is telling a headscarf-wearing employee to remove it without risking a potential religious discrimination lawsuit.

Take Alamo Rent-A-Car, for example. It previously allowed a Muslim employee to wear a headscarf at work. The company found a happy medium between her religious beliefs and its dress code by requiring her to wear one that had its logo because she interacted with the public as a customer sales representative.

However, following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the company refused to allow the employee to observe the religious requirement at all by demanding her to remove the headscarf when assisting customers. It fired her when she refused to comply. With the EEOC's help, the employee sued the company for religious discrimination. Earlier this year, a jury awarded her over $287,000 for her claim. (EEOC v. Alamo Rent-A-Car, LLC, D.C. AZ, No. CIV 02-1908-PHX-ROS, 2007)

Public Image Concerns

If your organization is concerned with the effect on public image an employee's religious requirement might have, you may compromise by asking the employee to pin the company logo to the item in question, or to wear the religious garb in a particular color scheme. UPS, for example, accommodates a variety of religious beliefs by offering brown turbans, longer shorts, culottes, and headscarves. It is possible to make modifications to dress standards without affecting public image.

To help determine whether an employee's request for a dress code exception is legitimate, or whether your denial of the request is reasonable, take the following steps.

• Do discuss with the employee their need for an accommodation. Ask for additional information if you're unfamiliar with the beliefs or practices of the employee's religion. Just because you've never heard of or seen it doesn't mean it isn't valid.

• Don't worry about co-worker reactions. Fearing other employees will also ask for exceptions to the rules is not a valid reason for denying this employee's request.

• Don't act on customer preferences; it is not a defense for discriminating against an employee. So, explain to a customer who doesn't want to be assisted by an employee wearing a yarmulke, for example, that your organization's policy is to hire and retain individuals with the right qualifications regardless of religion, race, national origin, etc. Then, assure the customer that your company expects no less than satisfactory performance from employees, so the assistance the customer receives from the yarmulke-wearing employee will be just as good as help from any other employee.

• Do handle dress code accommodation requests on a case-by-case basis. You must not only be consistent in denying accommodations and enforcing the dress code, but also flexible about exploring possible accommodations. Train managers to recognize the need to make exceptions for religious reasons and what poses an undue hardship.

There are instances where the effect on public image creates an undue hardship. Only then may your company have a legal leg to stand on in refusing to alter the company's dress code for an employee's religious observance. However, the burden is on the company to prove:

• there is a legitimate business interest for establishing and enforcing dress code standards;

• accommodation options were explored;

• viable options, if any, were offered to the employee, and the employee turned them down.

Dress code dilemmas and other difficult workplace situations, such as harassment and low morale, will be addressed in a web conference on Effectively Managing The Ten Most Disruptive Workplace Situations on October 4, 2007.

2. CATHIE'S CORNER:
WHEN YOU'RE THE NEW HR MANAGER IN TOWN, A COMPLIANCE
AUDIT IS YOUR FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS

A colleague who was starting a new job asked for advice on where to start getting acclimated in her new employer's policies. I generally perform an HR audit when I start in a new office, and the most important thing to me is to establish that your new employer is compliant with all the major employment laws. I reviewed with her some of the issues I like to cover first.

• Do all exempt employees qualify under one or more of the allowed exemptions? You will need to be familiar with the employees' job descriptions to establish this, keeping in mind that what an employee actually does and what the formal job description says are not always the same.

• Is there an anti-discrimination policy in place? If your state requires a separate sexual harassment policy, make sure yours is in compliance. If your state requires that your policy be distributed to your employees on a regular basis, there should be a procedure in place to do so. And, very importantly, are there any pending claims that you need to get up to speed on?

• What is the status of I-9 forms? This is one area that almost always needs attention. You need to have an I-9 form on file for all active employees, regardless of how long they've worked there, and for all termed employees who have been gone for less than a year. In addition, you need to have an I-9 on file for a terminated employee whose hire date was less than three years ago, even if their termination was more than one year ago.

  If your employer is like most, you will be missing some forms, and others will not be completed correctly. You'll want to take care of that by either getting a new form completed or by asking the employee to bring in the appropriate ID. Remember that you cannot dictate to the employee what forms of ID you will accept.

• Are you subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)? Make sure you have a tracking system that is easy to follow and that you know what 12-month period your employer has been using. Review whatever communications there have been with eligible employees. Also, bring yourself up to speed on any outstanding FMLA issues you may have.

• When is open enrollment? How effective has the company's communications been up to now?

These are just a few of the items you will want to be sure you are comfortable with. They are not the only ones. What takes precedence will depend on your corporate culture and, to a certain extent, the needs and wishes of your employer. Some will want you to completely overhaul the system immediately; others will fiercely resist any thoughts of change.

I don't recommend change for the sake of change. If the systems are working and your audit reflects that, there's no reason to alter them. If you find changes that are necessary, it may take a bit of tact to persuade upper management of the need to adopt your procedures. And, frankly, some battles you will not win, so pick them carefully.

One final thought: HR audits need not be restricted to only when you are new to a company. It can't hurt to review your policies periodically regardless of how long you've been with the employer, simply due to changes in law and procedure. There's always something you can do to improve!

Catherine Bannon is the President of HR by Request, Inc., in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting firm.

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FREE REPORT

Check out the new Free Report, " Domestic Violence Isn't So Domestic After All," which explores what you and your staff should do should a domestic violence issue arise in your workplace. You get legal and practical pointers, as well as a sample policy and a role-playing scenario that you can incorporate into a management training session.