When Christine Giacomoni applied for a job at the Sherwood Park (Alberta) location of the Real Canadian Superstore, she was wearing a nose stud. She got the job. Six months later, however, she was told that she could no longer wear her small nose stud at her work. The company had just recently decided to apply their policy for front-line workers about no nose studs to employees like Giacomoni, who worked in the deli. She took her case to her Union, and the complaint ended up in front of a labor arbitrator. Consider another situation, Russell Parrish, 29, who lives near Orlando, Florida, and has dozens of tattoos on his arms, hands, torso, and neck. In searching for a job, Parrish walked into 100 businesses, and in 60 cases, he was refused an application. “I want a career,” Parrish says, “I want the same shot as everybody else.” 

How does the matter of perception explain why some employers ban tattoos while others don’t mind them? 

Is it fair for employers to reject applicants who have tattoos?