'Concerns from another era': Funeral homes can't ban employee tattoos and piercings (2024)

A funeral home chain’s ban on employees having visible tattoos or piercings is a relic of another era and needs to change with the times, a Quebec labour arbitrator has ruled in overturning the ban.

Collins Clarke funeral homes, a Montreal-area division of the Dignity Memorial network, is violating its workers’ rights and offered no proof the body art upset grieving clients, said arbitrator Amal Garzouzi.

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Her decision appears part of a trend to dismiss rules that outlaw tattoos and piercings on the job, as the adornments move from the fringe of society to the mainstream.

Just this May, another arbitrator issued a similar ruling about Air Canada cabin crew.

The most recent decision stands out given the particularly sensitive setting of the funeral industry.

“The actions taken by the employer appear to be based on concerns from another era,” wrote Garzouzi. ”The rules on dress and body image established and in force for more than thirty years must evolve with our times and adapt to the current context while respecting the rights and freedoms of employees.”

The union’s lawyer and representatives for Dignity Memorial could not be reached for comment by deadline.

Dignity is owned by Texas-based Service Corporation International, which calls itself the industry’s largest North American provider, with 1,900 funeral homes, cemeteries and cremation facilities in the U.S. and Canada.

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The case centred around two grievances. One involved a male employee who had his nose pierced and a diamond jewel attached about six months after starting work. He was asked to cover it but instead replaced it with a gold nose ring.

The other came from a female employee with tattoos on both hands that management insisted be covered, as company rules stipulate.

The workers argued their rights to free expression and privacy under the Quebec charter of rights were violated by the policy.

Tattoos and body piercings are common forms of expression in all walks of life

Arbitrator Amal Garzouzi

The company said they were justified breaching those rights to preserve the sober and solemn atmosphere it tries to maintain for clients. Its motto is: Every detail counts.

It cited a 2016 arbitration on a similar issue involving police, which suggested tattoos were disturbing for a certain segment of society.

But Garzouzi said Collins Clarke offered no opinion polls or testimony from clients or others to back up its contention that body art was off-putting for some people. And, she noted, no client had ever lodged a complaint against either employee.

“Tattoos and body piercings are common forms of expression in all walks of life,” the arbitrator said. “It takes direct and clear evidence to convince the tribunal that this way of expressing oneself generates apprehension or unease among its clients.”

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A 2016 Harris Poll in the U.S. found that three in 10 Americans had tattoos and acceptance of them was growing, but not universal.

From 32 per cent to 39 per cent of those surveyed said they’d be comfortable with police officers, judges, doctors and presidential candidates having visible tattoos. Approval was higher among the millennial generation.

In May’s Air Canada ruling, arbitrator William Kaplan said the airline’s blanket ban on visible tattoos and piercings was unnecessary “to advance their business interests.”

He said the company had to allow crew to wear temporary henna tattoos, discreet permanent tattoos and small piercings.

“Tattoos are no longer confined to sailors, stevedores and strippers,” another arbitrator commented in 2013 as he struck down a new dress code at the Ottawa Hospital that banned visible body art.

(July 10 – corrects gender of Garzouzi)

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