Law.com has an interesting article that I really am at a loss with how to respond to.[1] Bartenders at a casino somewhere on the west coast (Ninth Circuit) are required to conform to a personal grooming policy.
Five years ago, the company changed its appearance standards to require female bartenders to look more feminine by wearing their hair down and using nail polish and makeup. Male bartenders had to keep their hair above the collar, keep their nails clean and neatly trimmed and couldn't wear makeup, ponytails or nail polish.[1]
Clearly it should be legal for an employer to require that employees such as waiters, waitresses, and bartenders, conform to the image the restaurants (or casino) wants to send to its customers. The grooming of the waiter, waitress, or bartender will clearly reflect on the establishment, and on the willingness of patrons to return (would you return to a restaurant if the waiters were all filthy?). Are there limits on this? I am not sure. It is a burden to require waiters to wear a tux, but I have seen that (we had a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant once). And clearly the grooming for men and women will be different, must be different, and yet both policies would reflect the same overall standard. A man with long hair sends a different image from a woman with long hair; the latter may be acceptable without the former being so. Is it a burden then that the man has to get his hair cut more often? Make-up is even messier. I have no clue how to approach that one. Does society require makeup of a well dressed woman? I really do not know. Is it fair to ask it of her? Beyond my ability to judge.
But these seem to be different questions from "This is a different burden than is placed on the males, is that allowable?" Clearly the standard, and thus inevitably the burden, must be different. Men and women are not the same and different does not necessarily mean unequal. Is it unequal after all that the bathrooms are segregated by sex? I hope not…
[1] http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1119431121751