Employer had blanket ban on tattoos so it didn’t have to decide what was appropriate, but court said banning all tattoos was prejudiced
A Quebec day-care facility’s ban on visible tattoos for employees has been ruled discriminatory by the Quebec Superior Court.
Nadine Belisle, 35, was a day-care worker for CPE La Pirouette, a publicly funded day-care centre that looks after children from two months to five years old in Chicoutimi, Que. Belisle had a tattoo of a dragon on her right shoulder blade but had been forced to cover it up while at work because La Pirouette had a policy that prohibited employees from showing any tattoos. The policy didn’t allow for any tattoos to be visible, which meant any employee with one on her forearm or leg had to wear long-sleeve shirts or pants at all times, even in the summer. One of Belisle’s co-workers had to put a bandage on her ankle tattoo in order to wear a skirt or shorter pants to work.
Belisle, believing the policy violated her human rights and freedom of expression, filed a complaint through her union, but an arbitrator ruled the daycare was within its rights to implement the ban.
However, the Quebec Superior Court felt differently, finding the ban was based on prejudices and stereotypes of people with tattoos. The court said tattoos are more common in “all levels of society” and the employer shouldn’t pass judgment on someone who has body art. However, the court specified La Pirouette still had the right to ban employees from showing tattoos that could be deemed inappropriate, such as ones depicting violence or other tasteless designs.
The union agreed inappropriate tattoos should be hidden from view in a day-care facility, but the blanket ban was too extreme.
“We’re professionals and want to give a good example to the children. We agree that if a tattoo is sexist, racist or violent it should be camolflaged,” Sylvie Blackburn, president of the union, told The Globe and Mail. “But I don’t see how children are going to be traumatized by a flower on someone’s ankle.”
The day-care centre argued it didn’t prohibit tattoos, it just wanted them to be hidden from view. It also said it had a blanket ban because it didn’t want to have to decide what tattoos were acceptable and what weren’t.
La Pirouette’s lawyer said the centre may appeal the court’s decision.
