I love Ellen DeGeneres. She is funny, smart, and one heck of a dancer. I even like the way she dresses. A hotel chain in midwest America apparently disagrees with me. Heartland Inns hired a fresh-faced young female by the name of - let's call her Ms. Boyish - in July 2005. Ms. Boyish held several positions with Heartland, performing each of them well. She was finally promoted to the ultimate position of front desk clerk and, all of a sudden, her problems began. According to Heartland's Director of Operations, Ms. Boyish did not have the "Midwestern girl look" that was needed for a front desk position. She was supposedly a "tom boy" and (oh my!) she dressed like Ellen DeGeneres. Ms. Boyish was fired and sued. The appeals court held that Ms. Boyish had a viable claim for gender stereotyping and retaliation against Heartland. One judge dissented, stating that this decision could allow employees to sue under Title VII if an employer refuses to hire a cheerleader because she does not have the "cheerleader look" or a fashion model because she/he is not good looking enough.
So what is an employer to do? Generally, courts allow companies to implement employer-adopted appearance standards. Appearance policies must be carefully drafted and uniformly applied to avoid claims that such policies go beyond an employer's legitimate interest in keeping up a particular image for business purposes. The policies cannot simply enforce a sexual stereotype. For instance, companies can require both males and females to look "professional." However, employers cannot mandate what they believe constitutes a "professional" look. There is a stark difference between requiring all employees to wear business suits versus requiring all men to wear business suits and all females to wear dresses with nylon hose.
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