muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu (Muffy Barkocy) (05/13/91)
>From the Sunday SF Examiner:
Airline ticket agent fined for refusing to use makeup
She says she'll sue carrier over policy
BOSTON - A ticket agent for Continental Airlines was fired because she
refused to wear makeup under a new policy intended to improve the
carrier's image.
Teresa Fischette, who was fired last week from her part-time job at
Logan International Airport, said she plans to go to court to fight for
her job.
"I think this is a women's choice issue and a civil rights issue,"
Fischette said Friday. "I want people to think about what is happening
here and write to Continental. ...And I want my job back."
On May 1, Continental implemented a new "appearance standard" requiring
all female ground workers to wear makeup, said Art Kent, the airline's
vice president for corporate communicatoins.
"I personally have never worn makeup," Fischette said. "I have nothing
against makeup, but I don't use it."
Sarah Wunsch, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said
Fischette, 38, was considered a highly professional, personable and
attractive worker.
Fischette, who contacted the ACLU, said airlines have a "bad history"
of workplace restrictions on women."
"The makeup is just the last vestige of that old idea that women have to
look glamorous in the workplace," she said.
Before the airline dismissed her, Fischette said she was offered another
job, at a "non-customer contact position on the ramp, throwing bags in a
place where I would be out of sight."
The personal appearance code the company adopted was developed by an
employees group, Kent said.
"It was, in fact, the women in the professional standards committe --
Miss Fischette's peers -- who insisted that a minimum amount of makeup
be included in the standard," he said.w25y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (05/15/91)
> BOSTON - A ticket agent for Continental Airlines was fired because she > refused to wear makeup under a new policy intended to improve the > carrier's image. Many businesses set appearence standards for their sales staff that insist that men shave their faces and wear neckties. Has anyone heard of these dress codes ever being legally overturned? Is this case really very different? -- Paul Ciszek W25Y@CRNLVAX5 Bitnet W25Y@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU Internet UUNET!CORNELL!VAX5!W25Y UUCP "The trouble with normal is it always gets worse." --Bruce Cockburn