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Dress Code in Minnesota

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A female employee who is Muslim wants to wear a headscarf at work in Minnesota. I say it’s not appropriate and doesn’t fit our dress code. Who is right?

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employer is required to make reasonable adjustments for a worker’s religious beliefs and practices, unless it causes the employer undue hardship.

Several court cases have found that an employer making an exception to the dress codes is usually a reasonable accommodation. These cases have also supported an Islamic woman’s right to wear clothing at work which follows her religion’s tenets, including the right to wear a headscarf.

For example, an Islamic woman recently sued her employer for religious discrimination. The employer, a Phoenix car rental agency fired her because she wouldn’t take off her scarf during Ramadan, a holy month in the Islamic faith. She filed the suit through the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and was awarded back pay, lost wages and a penalty of $250,000, for a total of $287,000.

Another court case involved tow Muslim employees in New Jersey. The employer’s dress code required male workers to be clean-shaven. The Muslim workers pointed out that their faith requires them to have beards. The court determined that in this case, an exception to the dress code constituted a reasonable accommodation.

When employee safety or public safety is involved the court has determined that the employer’s dress code restrictions must be followed. For example, a man with a beard could be a fire hazard in a work area with open sparks. In that situation, the requirement to be clean-shaven would be a safety issue and the court would probably uphold that decision. Or the court could rule that the worker be assigned to a different area where his beard wouldn’t be a safety problem. That is assuming that such a position were open, and suited to the employee’s skill set.

The employer in this case should consult with the employee to come to an agreement regarding work attire. Discuss what she needs to conform to her religious practices and then set acceptable limits. The employer doesn’t have the right to tell her not to wear a headscarf, but does have the right to approve the scarf itself. JH