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I work at a big rig truck center in the parts department and work directly with customers.
My hair is to my shoulder blades and still have no intentions of cutting. Boss basically told me I need to cut my hair. It's bad for business, we can't grow the company..........blah blah blah.
As far as grooming rules, we have them but they say nothing about hair. Says we are expected to have common sense and present a clean image, just that. Mind you no employee there is a longhair other than me, so yea talk about being the black sheep. Some of the guys refuse to associate with me simply because of my hair.
I've looked further into this and from what I gather, a company cannot force you to cut your hair unless you have rules and regs. specifically stating about hair, am I right?
We are a union facility and my steward has said nothing to me about my hair. He's definetly a in your face guy if he's got beef with something so I know he'll go to bat for me if it comes to this, but the bosses and supervisors there tend to hold grudges should you fight them or question them, stupid right!? So what is a man to do in this case, help?
Sadly no you are not right. As I've found in past encounters with work is yes they can fire you for not cutting your hair. Even if it states nothing about hair in the rules and regulations. I've had complaints from employers and have
quit the jobs rather than give in cut my hair.
I've had long hair since 1964 and ultimately that has meant walking away from some jobs. For me no job was worth cutting
off my hair. YMMV.
As far as the union, i'd ask the union guy straight out about your hair and whether he will back you up on this. I had a union job many years ago and they would not back me up on the
hair issue. So I walked away from that job. (BTW, that store
has since closed and then a number of years later the mall it was in burnt to the ground in an arson fire where several people
died. So that was a wise decision to walk away from that job. Besides I got a better opportunity for employment at the college
I went to. So sometimes when one door closes another door opens.)
Have to agree with Long Hair In Albany on this one. Go straight to the Union guy you talked about and see what he says about backing you in this. I think that's your best bet.
Steve
Wait, "big rig"? Like semi trucks? Most truckers HAVE long hair, at least, the majority of the ones I've met. That seems like a tattoo parlor having a "no tattoo" rule.
From what legal cases I've seen on this subject, it seems that they can indeed force you to cut your hair, even if there's nothing about it in the regs. I would be shocked at the blatant sexism this shows, but nothing surprises me anymore. I think I've reached the Despair Event Horizon regarding humanity's treatment of people who are marginally different.
The best you can do is offer to tie it, or wear a hat, and see if they go for it. Explain to your boss just how long it has taken for your hair to get to this point. At shoulder length I should think you've been growing for more than a year. Explain that hair is not like a uniform or a tie, you can't put it back on when you get home. It's not an accessory, it's a body part.
If that fails, then you can start fighting like a dirty bastard. Even though the Supreme Court (which is made up of people who can only be described as "old fogies") has declared this particular event NOT to be sexism, you have to do a bit of digging to find that particular ruling. So you could try going for that angle and hope they back down for fear of a legal battle. No company wants to get caught in a discrimination lawsuit, especially not a gender/sexual based discrimination one.
In short: offer to hide but not to cut, failing that, bluff and hope they fall for it.
May fortune smile upon you, brother.
Hi Michael,
I agree with what the others have said here. I worked in a union shop for a number of years and we had many guys with long hair. As long as it was tied back so it wouldn't get caught in the machinery everything was fine. The contract had nothing in it pertaining to hair length. Do you have a union contract there?
I just don't understand how simple-minded people really can be. I don't see where hair length affects how well one does their job. I think it's about time society stops being so stupid. I wish you much success in dealing with these ignoramuses my friend! May you keep your long hair forever! Have a great weekend!
Ted
No harm, he was curious and now knows, via my stern response, that I mean business. I am not the ownly longhair where I work. Although I am known as "The Cool old guy with the ponytail and the great stories of music and bands and what it was really like in the 60s and 70s. yep. I'm a revered elder. That certainly snuck up on me. Great. I can gather the tribe around the campfire and relate history and legend. WTH!...Works fer me.
I can definetly identify with that. Only in my case it didn't
sneak up on me...............I saw it coming towards me over 58
long years. And my long hair has lots of grey to go with those
58 years.
And at 58 years old my hair will stay long until the day I die
and the grey hair will remain grey.
who knows, when i'm in my 90s my hair will still be long and
probably will be all grey. But it will still be long.
Whenever I've had a boss confront me about something that I've found unreasonable (happily, I never had any problems with bosses and hair), I've always responded very firmly by asking if I was doing a bad job. And repeating that as often as necessary. And throwing in the occasional, "So are you firing me?"
Commenting on your hair length, if it doesn't affect your job, is bullying. It deserves a very assertive response. Most bullies back off when their victims don't immediately roll over. None of them ever fired me, but if they had, I would have felt like I still had my self-respect.
I agree. The other problem is that when you get passed up for a promotion and they don't tell you the real reason. In my case I think it is because of my lng hair but I can not prove it.