Is It Legal To Get Fired Because Of Tattoos

Kate has over eight years of experience as an employment and personal injury legal executive. She runs LawCat, a legal explanations website.

What does UK law say about employee rights when information technology comes to tattoos?

Eduardo Vaccari via Unsplash; Canva

I have received a fair few queries regarding tattoos in the workplace recently. Nearly of these queries take been concerning the hiring and firing of people with tattoos. Other inquiries have come from people who are concerned that they may exist beingness passed over for promotion or other opportunities because they accept tattoos.

It is now apparent that being tattooed can touch on people who are employed or looking for employment. This commodity will explicate how the police stands regarding those of united states who have tattoos and how this affects our employment rights.

Is It Legal For an Employer to Fire Yous Because of Your Tattoo?

Aye, information technology is legal for your employer to burn you because you have a tattoo. You lot can also be fired for getting a tattoo while employed or for revealing one that you lot got previously just had kept covered till now.

This may seem very especially unfair if yous have worked in a job for many years and you are good at information technology, happy in your work and have a proficient working human relationship with your co-workers and your boss. However, a company or employer may wish to present a sure prototype to the public, and your tattoo may not be part of that image. Some employers will asking that if you have a tattoo, you lot keep it covered, either with clothing or plasters. Others will remove yous from the workplace, and they are within their legal rights to do so.

If yous are employed and do not have a tattoo but are considering getting 1 in an area that could become visible (eastward.g. your arm, leg, or neck), and then it would be wise to ask your employer about whether this will affect your job first. While information technology may feel stifling not to be able to decorate your body the way you cull—it is your body, later all—yous may demand to consider your priorities and potentially delay getting a tattoo or consider changing jobs.

Is Information technology Legal to Deny Someone a Job Because They Take a Tattoo?

Yeah, employers are entitled not to hire you because you have a tattoo. If y'all attend an interview with your tattoo covered so reveal it after you have got the task, the employer is legally entitled to rescind the offer of employment. As mentioned to a higher place, it is entirely up to your employer whether or not your tattoo fits with their visitor prototype.

Isn't Firing Someone Because of a Tattoo a Blazon of Discrimination?

It is not bigotry, equally a tattoo is not a inability or a protected feature. A tattoo is something y'all chose to accept, and while a tattoo will not brand y'all any better or worse at your job, and many are cute pieces of art, tattoos do have a certain connotation in order and are rarely seen every bit professional person.

Roll to Go on

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If you are refused work or fired from your job because of a tattoo, it may feel like you are beingness discriminated against for the way yous look, which is deeply sad, just this does not qualify as discrimination. The Equality Deed of 2010 states that for an action to exist considered discrimination, it must fall nether i of the nine characteristics listed in the Act. Only then volition it be considered unlawful nether the Act. At the time of writing, tattoos are non i of the ix listed features.

It has been argued in several forums that tattoos should be protected nether the act. This has occurred many times and with such passion that the Act has been amended via a schedule to specifically excluded tattoos. In this schedule, information technology states that tattoos cannot be considered severe disfigurement (a protected characteristic, every bit a severe disfigurement qualifies as a inability nether the human activity) so are not protected.

I day, the law may modify to forbid people from existence fired or non hired considering of a tattoo. The police force oft changes to reflect society, and if the historically unprofessional connotation of tattoos changes, the law may well change to reflect that. Information technology is doubtful, notwithstanding, that this protection volition come from the Equality Act, which purposefully protects people from discrimination suffered because of something they did non cull and cannot help.

I Wasn't Told I Couldn't Have a Tattoo. Can I Still Be Fired?

Aye, you can however be fired even if yous were unaware of your employer's policy on tattoos. While it would exist good practice for an employer to include their policies on tattoos in your contract or the visitor handbook, it is not stated in the police force that they must do so.

If you lot are unsure about where your employer stands on the issues of tattoos, then y'all should speak with them to clarify earlier you get a tattoo or reveal one that yous already have.

Looking forwards

In conclusion, an employer has a lot of discretion when it comes to tattoos. Information technology is entirely possible and legal for you lot to be denied a job because you take a tattoo or fired from a task considering you lot have a tattoo. Being fired or denied employment considering of your tattoo is not considered discrimination legally in the UK. This may modify in the future, nevertheless, as in that location are many petitions and campaigns out there that want the law to change.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for informational or amusement purposes only and does non substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business organization, fiscal, legal, or technical matters.

Katie (author) from Norfolk, UK on July 23, 2018:

It can be a difficult state of affairs, people in a better world nosotros wouldn't be judged on our appearances but unfortunately, at this bespeak in time, humanity will brand judgements based on someones appearances and business concern volition often want to present a certain professional epitome to the world that doesn't ever coincide with a persons preference in body art.

Louise Powles from Norfolk, England on July nineteen, 2018:

I agree with what y'all say. I've only got ane pocket-size tattoo on the top of my left arm, just wouldn't consider getting whatsoever large ones. It all depends on the task. I tin can understand why someone would be turned down or fired because of tattoo's.

Source: https://toughnickel.com/business/Can-You-Be-Fired-For-Having-A-Tattoo

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