Body of work: Tattoos, body piercings in the workplace

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Body of work: Tattoos, body piercings in the workplace
October 3, 2010
By Philip Walzer
PilotOnline.com

Matt Muscara's body doubles as a colorful mural promoting the straight-edge life: no drugs, smoking or alcohol. His right arm is sleeved with tattoos, including images of a clean trash can and a cigarette butt with a slash through it. His neck is encircled with three X's - the straight-edge symbol - and the message "Only God Can Judge Me."

When Muscara curls his hands into fists, they spell out "DRUG FREE."

Muscara was working at his parents' restaurant, Pelon's Baja Grill, in Virginia Beach four years ago when a customer told him to stop mixing her margarita. She didn't want him touching it.

Muscara, 25, of Norfolk is now kitchen manager at the Pelon's in the Ghent area. These days, he said, the reaction is different: "People want to talk to me about it. They're more curious about it than disgusted with it."

His mother, Robyn, doesn't mind his going short-sleeved and doesn't think it's affected business. With the booming popularity of tattoos among 20- and 30-year-olds, more employers should loosen policies and attitudes, say Muscara, other tattooed workers and even some consultants.

The same argument goes for body piercings.

When Adam Jackson interviewed five years ago at London Bridge Trading Co., a Virginia Beach manufacturer of nylon gear for military and law enforcement, he took off all of his body rings. He didn't have to. His interviewer, Jackson said, had dyed blue hair and, like Jackson, wore an "industrial" in her ear - a horizontal piece that pierces the ear twice.

Jackson, who works on a computer, usually comes in with two industrials in his left ear, a pair of "gauge barbell" earrings - which resemble thick, inverted U's, with balls on the ends - and a mohawk.

Jackson works next to Meghan Johnston, 20, of Virginia Beach, who has a "bridge piercing" crossing the top of her nose, a lower ring or stud on each nostril and a "monroe," named for Marilyn Monroe's beauty mark above her lips.

Both say they'd hesitate taking a job if they had to drop their metal.

"It doesn't detract from the work ethic of the person," said Jackson, 26, of Virginia Beach.

Ken Beasley, the operations manager for London Bridge, said his thinking on the issue has evolved.

"Me being old school, it took me a while to get used to a different generation," he said. "I warmed up to the fact that, if it makes them happy and more productive, I'm all for it."



Even Muscara, Jackson and Johnston say parts of the white-collar world aren't ready for visible tattoos and rings.

Robert Dewey, managing partner of the Willcox & Savage law firm in Norfolk, didn't endorse the idea of attorneys wearing nose rings at meetings with clients.

"We respect that people are going to be different," Dewey said. "At the same time, our staff has to respect that we are a business and that clients have expectations for how their lawyers carry out their business."

The firm has no policy on the subject.

Some local companies prohibit visible tattoos and piercings other than earrings at work. They include Sentara Healthcare and Gold Key/PHR, which operates seven hotels and seven restaurants or bars locally. Officials at both emphasized the importance of maintaining a professional appearance.

Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer PC, a Norfolk accounting firm, encourages employees to cover tattoos and take out rings when meeting clients or publicly representing the firm. It will become written policy next year to make sure the message is clear, said Heather Sunderlin, the director of employee services.

Rashel Teach, a senior accountant there, has a small nose stud. She usually wears it at work, but takes it off when meeting with a client. The couple of times she forgot to take it off at meetings, Teach said, she heard nothing beyond a muted expression of surprise.

But she knows her limits. "If I showed up with gauges and a nose bridge," said Teach, 27, of Norfolk, "they might not have confidence in me."

A Pew Research Center study this year showed the generational divide on tattoos and piercings. Six percent of those above 65 have a tattoo, Pew said. That rose to 38 percent for the "millennial" generation, ages 18 to 29. And most have more than one.

Only 1 percent of the "boomer" generation, ages 46 to 64, had a piercing somewhere other than an ear, compared with 23 percent for millennials.

Some people get tattoos or piercings because they like the look. Others have a message in mind.

Muscara said his came from hanging out with a bunch of straight-edge friends while growing up in California.

Angela Sandelier, 39, an accountant with Saunders and Matthews in Norfolk, has four tattoos. A ribbon on her back recalls her best friend's death from colon cancer. Her right ankle features the Japanese symbol for child, in honor of her two children. The one most often seen is a cross on the back of her neck.

"We have a pretty conservative client base, but no one's been negative at all," Sandelier said. However, "I probably couldn't work for a Fortune 500 company with these tattoos."



Some employers, including Bank of America and the KPMG accounting firm, have no formal policies. Nord-strom leaves the decision to managers, though the goal is "to reflect a professional image," spokeswoman Tara Darrow said. Farm Fresh prohibits facial piercings and visible tattoos "while working and in uniform," spokesman Steve Sylven said.

The Navy, where tattoos have flourished, tightened its policy in the past decade. They are banned on the head, face, neck or scalp, and may not be seen through white uniforms. Those exposed in short sleeves "shall be no larger in size than the wearer's hand with fingers extended and joined with the thumb touching the base of the index finger."

The Virginia Beach Police Department also prohibits tattoos on the head, face, neck or scalp, and those that advocate discrimination or are obscene. The Norfolk Police Department goes a step further, banning tattoos that cover at least 30 percent of an exposed body part.

Employers are within their rights if they don't hire people with tattoos or body rings or if they ask employees to cover tattoos and take out rings at work, said David Burton, a partner with Williams Mullen in Virginia Beach.

The only exception, he said, is if the tattoos relate to religious beliefs. Even then, companies can insist on coverings if their exposure would impose "an undue hardship" on the company.

"My impression is that, 10 years ago, this was a bigger concern for clients than it is now," Burton said. "Because it's become so much more prevalent in society, the stigma about them isn't as harsh as it used to be."

John Challenger, head of the Chicago consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said, "It would be crazy for companies to write off" tattooed or ringed job candidates.

"I do think the world needs to be more lenient," he said, "because so many people under 40 have tattoos and piercings. It's one of the ways our society has changed."

But he warned that companies that deal with the public or operate in elite white-collar circles limit their visibility.

The same, Challenger said, holds true for job-seekers: "It's a tough job market out there, and you don't know who you're going to meet with, who might feel uncomfortable with tattoos and piercings."

Nash Montgomery, career services director at Norfolk State University, also advocates caution: "We encourage students to avoid tattoos and body piercings and, if they have them, to hide them during the interview."

It's not an issue for many tattoo wearers: Seventy-two percent told Pew that their body art isn't usually visible.

Jeremy Holtzinger, an information technology analyst at Wall Einhorn, has six, all below his knees. "Most people didn't know I had any until we played softball," said Holtzinger, 30, of Norfolk.

He doesn't plan to get any in more visible spots. "I want to be an adult sometimes," he said.