Unfriendly word from on high

[ratspike]

The Gentleman Op said his contract was "at Will" now I don't know what that means as it is not a term we use in the UK. I assume it means he is what we would call a "contractor" that is not an employee of the company but hired for a task or duration with lesser rights than a true employee, but on higher pay for the uncertainty of employment.

This is how the state of Oregon defines at will employment:
"The common law rule regarding the employer-employee relationship allows the termination of the relationship by either party, without notice and without cause.

Oregon courts have long followed this general rule of "at-will" employment. This means that generally, in the absence of a contract or statute to the contrary, Oregon employers may discharge an employee at any time and for any reason, or for no reason at all."

Under normal circumstances it's not a big deal IMO, but it can make things sketchy if one decides to make noise about policy or push back against the big boss.

[Beertigger]

"At-will" employment in no way entitles your employer to violate the law and discriminate. Are women allowed to wear skirts in your workplace? Do your tasks require safety attire that would preclude the wearing of a skirt?

[OC Richard]

Where I work the dress and appearance code is quite specific. There's a handbook which has numerous photos of models wearing acceptable and unacceptable forms of dress.

For men, slacks are specified. End of discussion.

Also hair styles, jewelry, tattoos, makeup, facial hair, and even undergarments are discussed. Not much wiggle room.

It has been challenged, and occasionally people have won. Now Muslim women are allowed head coverings. However the untrimmed beards required by some religions are still not allowed. They recently allowed beards but they must be kept closely cropped. Also various head-coverings required of men in some religions are still forbidden.

If people don't like these restrictions they're free to work elsewhere.

[kiltedcontractor]

Richard, it sounds like your bosses have big ears and are listening to the courts
I think they will be challenged on the religious beard issue. I think a company has the right to decide how they are represented.

[ratspike]

In a perfect world I feel a man should be able to wear a kilt or any other sort of skirt to work if women are also allowed, provided it meets the level of dress that's required. Open mindedness, acceptance, gender constructs, and all that. Unfortunately that's not a place that we're going to be at any time soon. I hope the OP gives us an update on how things shake out. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's curious.

[The Wizard of BC]

Guys, This is not an issue of a guy being told he can't wear his kilt. Read the posts. He has been told that he may wear his kilt.

The kilt is not the issue here! A guys right to wear a kilt is not the issue! The terms of his employment are not the issue!

He is being asked not to face 2 face with customers while in a kilt. And we don't know why he was asked that as the OP has not responded.

Can we please, either give the guy a chance to respond, if he wants, or let this issue we know nothing about, drop.

[Farmer Jones]

Programming (I assume you mean computers) is and always has been a back office activity. In all the years I have been a programmer the only time I have ever had a dress code imposed on me was in the 1970s when I worked for IBM, when I worked as a consultant representing a solutions organization, or when bigwigs were coming for a tour to inspect their investments. The software my company develops now is important to the health care and health insurance industries worldwide. Our programmers are only required to be as comfortable as possible so that they focus on their work. As it is a mixed sex office they must also be "decent". This means that a major European organization would really not want to know that one of the first level support guys they dealt with this morning sometimes wears pajamas to work. Comfort for me in that office means unbifurcated clothing.

[thecompaqguy]

OP, if you do choose to wear your kilt to work while entertaining corporate clients...
hqdefault.jpg
Be careful when picking up that Lever Arch file from off the floor

I would love to wear my kilt to work, Kilted Fridays sound great, but in my new job, as the name entails, working for Compaq (HP) visiting customer sites does not permit me to, as the firm is keen to make a good impression to it's customer base. I love kilts, but some may interpret the kilt as "fancy dress " rather than smart clothing and an alternative to trousers... I also dread to think of the anti static qualities of a Gold Brothers PV as I could kill many a system board...

Though if there was a corporate event, and I ask my line manager / HR first, I am sure a kilt (or in my case a Kilt Suit) would be fine I have worn one to church, but obviously that is a different environment.

Let us know what happens with work, but personally I would not throw away a good job for the sake of wearing a kilt in front of visitors if asked not to. The fact one can be worn in other settings such as when clients are not on site sounds great, perhaps a lot more than some employers are willing to offer

Looks like OP's gone... never mind

['Thogail nam bo]

New though I am, and in the absence of the OP's response, I do think we should consider that the company is, in a way, acknowledging the striking presence of the kilt by asking the OP not to wear it in certain circumstances.

We can all agree that the kilt is comfortable, stylish, and that perhaps no inherently inappropriate time to wear it, yet we can also acknowledge from experience that it stands out in a crowd. A man in a kilt cuts an impressive figure in a room full of men in trousers, and we all know how much it can draw awe even when worn relatively subtly-- and to be fair, I think we all know well enough to enjoy it.

Some business environments -- and the OP's business seems to think it is one such -- don't want employees to draw much attention to themselves. Thus, in a way, allowing him to wear kilts except at those times when they conscientiously wish to put forward an anonymous, regulated image is itself an acknowledgement that the kilt is a powerful piece of style.

As another example, the OP would be perfectly correct to show up to work every day in proper morning dress, or, if he was feeling a little less formal, in a Stresemann or stroller rig, to dinner in black tie, and to evening functions in white tie. On the other hand, if his employer knows that its clients are casual folks who consider a tie to be excessively formal, they would have every right to ask him to dress down to make the clients more comfortable, even though what he's doing is entirely proper-- indeed, in context, too proper.

[glynrb]

In January of this year I finished my final software contract (I'm now either retired or a property investor, depending on your viewpoint). The 3 month contract lasted 20 months. 2 months into the contract I developed an epididymal cyst which meant I simply couldn't take the pain of wearing trousers. I checked with my boss and we agreed I could wear a kilt to work. Since then I have rarely worn trousers, even though the operation to sort the problem was eventually a success.

The interesting bit is that in my new role as a property mogul (well, maybe minnow) I spend a fair amount of my time looking at properties. When I am doing these inspections I always wear trousers as I don't want my ability to purchase property to be judged by what I am wearing. This is despite the fact that I am known in the property circles in which I move as the guy who always wears the kilt.

So I made the sort of decision that your employers are making, which is that when you are in a selling/negotiating situation (or in my case a buying situation) you don't want any possibility of the other party focussing on you rather than the proposition.

If you think this is illogical, I would refer you to the hilarious video, "The Expert", on youtube which lays bare the idiocy involved in negotiations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKor...1xQer8&index=2