Long Hair = no job. Why?

Kersh

My little bro went for an interview for a job today. The job entailed packing shelves ina supermarket (big name) at night time til christmas eve.
As soon as he walked into the interview, the girl said, sorry, no long hair or facial hair, its compay policy.
He has shoulder length hair.
I thought places of employment couldnt be prejudiced against such things anymore. Can they?
You know it being 2005 and all the equality for all that we see bandied about the place.

Karl Hungus

Eh! That definetly sounds illegal!

Royale with Cheese

You talking about Dunnes yeah? When I worked there (summer 2004) some people had long hair, the manger's didn't really care... just the HR department, they were a pack of **** tbh. Managers never said anything to me about my appearance (which was generally fine) but the one time I had to go into the HR department after being hired I hadn't shaved that morning and got a ticking off.

Kersh

I had to put up with this long hair stuff 15 years ago... i thought the country had moved on... :rolleyes:

Yep Dr J, thats them.... a job for 3 weeks like... ffs.

Hub

No long hair? So they dont allow girls to work there?

Kersh

It would seem so.... but its company policy, according to them...

Karl Hungus

Honestly, a solicitor's letter wouldn't be a bad idea right now. It is discrimination.

SpAcEd OuT

Hub wrote:

No long hair? So they dont allow girls to work there?

*cough*

Royale with Cheese

Women didn't have to be clean shaven either. Totally unfair.

joejoem

Dirty hippy

dundalk cailin

i worked as a waitress and my boss was quite strict bout appearance, girls had to tie their hair back.. guys had to be clean shaven, and have their hair relatively short..this went on till the manager kept turning up unshaven, the lads were like hey what kinda example is he setting, he cant tell us to be clean shaven if he doesnt bother himself!!

Ste-

Have a look through some of the following websites.
http://www.equalitytribunal.ie/
http://www.oasis.gov.ie/

It is deffo unfair to dismiss him as they did.

Sangre

If girls can have long hair its illegal. I'm 100% positive on this point.

rubadub

Dr J wrote:

Women didn't have to be clean shaven either. Totally unfair.

they would in my supermarket, and I would inspect daily. not their faces mind

That is crazy though, admitting it, you would just think they would say we have no vacancies at the moment, or "you didnt get the job"

Kersh

Well in fairness, she went ahead and interviewed him anyway, must have been for the experience... :rolleyes:

Thanks for the constructive input joejoem.

Rozie

That's pretty ****ty, alright. I really hate the amount of discrimination that people just put up with.

Does anyone really give a **** aside from the staff what someone stacking the shelves looks like? No.

tonyj

Long hair eh? - He's obviously one of these 'hippies' and he'll spend his time listening to Pink Floyd, smoking drugs and pretending he can fly.

Z

hehe.
stereotypes are fun.

biko

Karl Hungus wrote:

Eh! That definetly sounds illegal!

Hehe looking at your sig I'd say that touched a nerve
In fairness the company cannot withold an application because of apperance. They can, however, force you to wear a hairnet or the like. Or make you remove rings and stuff if you work with food, which makes total sence.

OP, offer to wear pigtails?

magpie

And yet amazingly they probably don't have a policy against short, bleached hair with stripes shaved into it and a wet gelled-down fringe. And I know which would be more likely to rob the place blind.

joejoem

magpie wrote:

And yet amazingly they probably don't have a policy against short, bleached hair with stripes shaved into it and a wet gelled-down fringe. And I know which would be more likely to rob the place blind.

But that looks so cool!

Kersh wrote:

Well in fairness, she went ahead and interviewed him anyway, must have been for the experience... :rolleyes:

Thanks for the constructive input joejoem.

Sorry, I have internet tourettes.

Kersh

Hmmmm, I wonder are short haired girls allowed work there?
Any staff on here from there.... any opinions?

Karl Hungus

I actually know quite a few long hair people who work, or have worked, in Dunnes, so I'm fairly certain that there is no "Policy" as such, but that your brother was quite simply discriminated against. Does he know the name of the person who interviewed him?

Royale with Cheese

Karl Hungus wrote:

I actually know quite a few long hair people who work, or have worked, in Dunnes, so I'm fairly certain that there is no "Policy" as such, but that your brother was quite simply discriminated against. Does he know the name of the person who interviewed him?

I said before there were people with long hair when I worked there but there is a policy. When you are interviewed you are told long hair and facial hair is not allowed for males. I guess they choose whenever it suits them to excercise this rule.

Ph3n0m

This one time when I worked in Dunnes - it was a facial hair they had a problem with - simply because I was handling food. As long as I had the hair tied back and was clean shaven, nowt a problem

Karl Hungus

Dr J wrote:

I said before there were people with long hair when I worked there but there is a policy. When you are interviewed you are told long hair and facial hair is not allowed for males. I guess they choose whenever it suits them to excercise this rule.

Fair enough so, but it's still discrimination and Kersh's brother should definetly not take it on the chin, so to speak.

BrokenArrows

I got a job in dunnes two years ago and she game me the job on the condition that i shaved the gotee. I needed the money so the gotee went. Didnt really care though.

Bit of a stupid pollicy though.

Lemming

To be honest, there's a bit of a difference between shaving ones goatee and cutting off your hair. Big difference. You'll get a goatee back in a couple of weeks if yuo want, the hair ... well that's another matter.

But yeah, that was bang out of order and was blatant discrimination. I'd take it up if it were me. Kersh, I'd say to your brother that the only person that should want to cut his hair is him, and f*ck to anyone else. He'll find a job without having to put up with prejudiced bullsh*t. I endured years of my dad & older brother telling me I'd never get a job with long hair blah blah blah. Guess what? I have a job and I still have long hair and a goatee.

Kersh

Stupid and discriminating. Karl, he is in Town right now, but he does be on here (beekay), im sure he has all the info, its just really p1ssing me off.
@ Lemming, i agree, i had long hair too, in the end I cut it off to help me land sponsors for racing, but im sure my bro would cut his hair off to be girl picker at hugh heffners place, but for a 3 week job stacking shelves.....

godtabh

I worked in supermarket and the manager made me shave on more than one occasion cause I had a 5 o clock shadow

magpie

Guess what? I have a job and I still have long hair and a goatee.

My printer isn't working, can you fix it?

Rozie

I'd hate to have to cut my hair short short for a job. Some guys would be just as attatched to their hair as me.

That's what makes it absolutely disgusting. Nobody would force a woman to cut their hair short(except a TS like me, of course). I think that's really sexist and whoever decides that deserves to be tied naked to a pole and have his pubic hair pulled out one by one to show them the true pain of hair removal.

Sangre

They're perfectly entitled to make women cut their hair short just as long as the males have to do it.

Rozie

Sangre wrote:

They're perfectly entitled to make women cut their hair short just as long as the males have to do it.

Where, exactly, makes women cut their hair short?

Also, if there was a wide job market whre people could chose from a variety of jobs, it would be great, otherwise, you are effectively forcing people to alter their appearance in a destructive manner as they have no real alternative.

Sangre

Eh...a television/film studio maybe?

The point is they can do it if they want

Funkstard

i)Gender discrimination
ii)Visual discrimination
iii)Unequal employment methods

Take your pick. That is definitely not on.

Sangre

Visual discrimination?
Lol, thats a new one.

BobTheBeat

I worked there for years when I was in sceondary school. Same sh*t was the standard then. You also couldnt be seen with a piercing of any kind, or dyed hair. One of the guys who worked with me got sent home for having his ear pierced. HR were a shower of w*nkers alright. I remember reading the employee handbook at the time:- "Male emplyee appearance should be neat and tidy. Rings will not be tolerated save for a wedding band. Jewellery such as chains and piercings will not be allowed.Hair should but short and neat with short back and sides.We are a shower of controlling c**ts" or something to that effect!

SpAcEd OuT

nobody wants to employ a smelly rocker.....

I dont think thats illegal to be honest, they want the workers to look neat and presentable understandable

Sangre

It is illegal and if I wasn't lazy I could tell you which cases says so...
I know one of them was against Dunnes

Somnus

SpAcEd OuT wrote:

they want the workers to look neat and presentable understandable

You can be neat and presentable and still have long hair.

In my school your hair isnt meant to be past collar length,i mean of course theres a lot of people who do have it longer, but they say the same thing about not wanting students looking scruffy.In all fairness though if you keep your hair clean and out of the way (which is a problem aswell because another rule forbids ponytails so you cant tie it back) then i dont see the problem with allowing students to grow their hair long.

There are twins in my school who i heard ( i'm not sure whether this is 100% true) that if they dont get their hair cut they wont be allowed back into the school next year.They've already been kept out of classes for the same reason and still would be if it wasnt for their parents ringing up and complaining. Its all a bit extreme in my opinion

Beekay

I would be the brother,


I went into the interview and sat down and the first thing she said was
"Well,our store policy is that blokes have to have hair with short back and sides"
and i just just went ok and kinda went to get up and leave.
And then she asked me would i get it cut.
I said "No".(i'm not gonna get my hair cut for a three week job!)
And then she patronised me by asking was i "in a band or something".

Then she went on to give me an interview that hardly even lasted 5 minutes.
i could obviously tell by her body language and tone that she wasn't even going to consider me for a job.

I wouldn't have minded if they made girls have short back and sides...

Funkstard

Sangre wrote:

Visual discrimination?
Lol, thats a new one.

Yeh I know! I just kind of made it up.....I couldn't think of the word for it, so 'visual' seemed apt!

lostexpectation

okay say for working at food counter deli/butchers what ever, Having a beard isn't inherently unhygenic :mad:

_as long as you keep it clean_

UberNewb

Thats what happened to me back in the 80's!

I can't believe that there still the same. When was the last time anyone went into a shop and thought "Oh my God, that bloke has long hair! I'm outta here!!"

I still have it long and earn a lot more than one of those store managers!

Next time tell them you will cut your hair if she shaves hers. :eek:

Ste-

Beekay wrote:

I would be the brother,


I went into the interview and sat down and the first thing she said was
"Well,our store policy is that blokes have to have hair with short back and sides"
and i just just went ok and kinda went to get up and leave.
And then she asked me would i get it cut.
I said "No".(i'm not gonna get my hair cut for a three week job!)
And then she patronised me by asking was i "in a band or something".

Then she went on to give me an interview that hardly even lasted 5 minutes.
i could obviously tell by her body language and tone that she wasn't even going to consider me for a job.

I wouldn't have minded if they made girls have short back and sides...

Did she actually say it to you that you weren't getting the job because of it tho ?

Karl Hungus

Ste- wrote:

Did she actually say it to you that you weren't getting the job because of it tho ?

As far as I understand it, she had no right to ask him to cut his hair in the first place.

Ste-

Karl Hungus wrote:

As far as I understand it, she had no right to ask him to cut his hair in the first place.

I wasn't exactly sure about that that's why I didn't say that.
I would have thought he had more of a case had she said it to him tho.
Deffo something to take further.

Beer is Life

I went for an interview with a Dublin based security company(the job wasnt for security duty) last summer. Interview was going great, until yer man asked me would i cut my hair. I said no, im fairly atached to it and i usually keep it tied and presentable at work. He just said something like, "Right, thanks for coming". Bang, interview over.

I then went for the exact same job with a different company a few months ago and got it.

He didnt say it exactly, but i always knew i didnt get the job because of the hair. Id say this ****e happens alot.

nlgbbbblth

Kersh wrote:

My little bro went for an interview for a job today. The job entailed packing shelves ina supermarket (big name) at night time til christmas eve.
As soon as he walked into the interview, the girl said, sorry, no long hair or facial hair, its compay policy.
He has shoulder length hair.
I thought places of employment couldnt be prejudiced against such things anymore. Can they?
You know it being 2005 and all the equality for all that we see bandied about the place.

What's he rebelling against?

radiospan

When I was in San Francisco on a J1 over the summer, about 8 of us went into a hotel looking for work, and the first thing the lady from HR said to us was that the guys with long hair couldn't work there. She said they could work there when they cut their hair.

In fairness though, I can understand companies being selective if you're going to be in a "public" position when you're at work.