Does Appearance Really Matter? (4)
Clothing choice and body art can have serious effects on more than your looks

What about the dress code?
Most people who decide to remove their tattoos are in their 20s through 50s, Katz said. "Usually they have it done in high school or college, get out in the business world and realize it's not appropriate," he said.

Still, many people are undeterred . But what will the boss say?

Employer reactions vary widely, said Amy Maingault, information specialist for a trade group of 200,000 human-resource professionals in Alexandria, Virginia. While many have lightened up about the presence of visible "tats," others may take a conservative stance , especially if the job involves a lot of customer contact, she said.

Phyllis Hartman, principal and founder of PGHR Consulting in Pittsburgh, said employers are split on the subject. Fair or not, gender can also make a difference.

" Some people respond less negatively to a male with a tattoo than a female," Hartman said. "If an older male interviewer, for example, sees a guy with a tattoo with U.S. Army or Marines on it, he may not respond negatively at all," but if a woman had a tattoo he might disapprove, she said.

Tattoo discrimination
State laws differ, but employers may vary their rules-even from department to department, said Talar Herculian, an attorney  in Irvine, California. "This is one of the areas where employers have a lot of rights," Herculian said. "But the key is to make sure you have a properly drafted policy, you've put your employees on notice and it's applied consistently."

Employers want to avoid having a lax policy that allows workers to say they're being treated differently or allows them to claim they're being discriminated against for other reasons, she said.

" The most common pitfall is gender discrimination when it comes to personal-appearance policies," Herculian said. "There are a lot of claims that they're harder on women."

Vocabulary Focus

lighten up (phr v) ---to become more relaxed and less serious

stance (n) ---a way of thinking about something, especially expressed in a publicly stated opinion

draft (v) ---to write something, especially at an early stage before it is in final form

lax (adj) ---lacking care, attention or control; not severe or strong enough

pitfall (n) ---a likely mistake or problem in a situation