Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, employers and employees often clashed over acceptable hairstyles and apparel. Today, a workplace dispute may occur over piercings or skin art. What is at stake? Essentially, the rights of employees to look and dress as they please versus the employer’s desire to maintain a professional appearance.

If you are a business owner or manager, can you mandate what your employees wear and how they look? It depends. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and its following amendments), dress and groom­ing codes that are discriminatory can cause legal complications. The key is to set up a company policy that relates to either health and safety in the workplace or your company’s public image.

According to previous case law in this area, you can set a reasonable policy for dress and grooming. It may also be possible to establish separate rules for men and women. But be aware of these three key points.

1. Your company must have some legitimate business purpose behind its policy. For example, it would be unreasonable for most manual laborers to be required to wear suits and dresses.

2. Be sure all employees are advised of the policy. The policy should be included in a written employee manual. If you do not have a manual in place, it may be a good time to create one.

3. Make the policy as fair as possible. Allowing men to come to work dressed casually while women have to wear uniforms may be considered unreasonable. Try to use common sense.

Caution: Don’t shave things too closely. For instance, you should be especially careful with the following provisions.

*No-beard rules: It generally is advisable to make exceptions for those employees with documented medical skin conditions and for those workers whose religious beliefs may require a beard.

*Make-up: Be careful to relate this rule to the company’s public image. Trouble may arise if some women have little interest in wearing make‑up and your company requires it. This is a difficult area to impose restrictions without seeming sexist. As with no-beard rules, exceptions should be made for medical reasons and religious beliefs.

*Provocative dress: It is generally acceptable to require women to wear clothing that will uphold your company’s image. But clothing that may subject your female employees to sexual harassment may cause problems. On the other hand, you may prohibit employees from dressing provocatively, assuming that the restrictions you impose are reasonable.

*Different dress codes: Obviously, men and women dress differently. But you should try to apply the same restrictions to men and women evenly so your policy will not be viewed as being discriminatory.

*Hairstyles: Some company managers advocate short hair because they believe it promotes the company image. As a general rule, employers may impose guidelines for their particular circumstances, but any hairstyle requirements cannot be overly restrictive.

As we said before, using common sense in this area is important. If your policy is reasonable under the circumstances, it should be able to stand up to legal scrutiny.

Reminder: Make sure that company policy keeps up with the times. It cannot hurt to have your manual reviewed on a regular basis.