Last month Bountiful, Utah was added to the ever growing list of city’s requiring employees to cover their tattoos. Teachers, Janitors and Firefighters are among the list of employees who have been told if they want to keep their jobs the tattoos have to go.
The rule in Bountiful was passed after applicants with hard-to-conceal tattoos showed up for interviews for jobs in the police, streets and sanitation departments. City Manager Tom Hardy says city leaders had to decide: “Either we’re going to do nothing about it,or we’re going to do something about it.”
It’s a controversial issue with some saying, ”We don’t allow discrimination based on skin color, yet we came up with a policy that discriminated against people with color on their skin,” says Steve Tufts, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City.
And others saying its not discrimination but students are getting teaching degrees, getting tattoos, and then applying for jobs. “We’re saying before you get a tattoo, you have to think about how big it is and where it’s located before you think about getting a job in our school district,” saysJoplin Schools Superintendent C.J. Huff.
Cover Up Tattoos, Some Employees Told, By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY./
Carrie Burrows Said:
on November 4, 2008 at 1:42 am
I wonder if this has anything to do with the Mormon church prohibiting tattoos and piercings.