GCEA JUNE Newsletter

Jun 9

JUNE 2026

Dress Code Policies

As the weather heats up, and schools break for the summer, public employees may become more casual with their attire. It is a good reminder to check your employer’s dress code policy to ensure your attire does not lead to potential discipline for violating policy. There are no laws requiring speciﬁc dress codes in the workplace, absent any relevant safety requirements. However, many public employers do have and enforce dress code policies. This has become more common in the post-Pandemic, return-to-the-office world. Some public employers have been intentional about updating and enforcing more traditional appearance standards.

Dress code policies are part of terms and conditions of employment. This means that an employer must give notice to the employee organization and allow for negotiations prior to implementing new dress code standards. This month, we look at common features of dress code policies and important points to note.

Dress Code Policies Should Be Limited to When You Are at Work

Dress code policies should generally apply only while you are at work or on the clock. During work hours, you represent your employer. This means that employers can require you to maintain a speciﬁc appearance when providing services. When you are off work, you are generally not the employer’s representative, and you can dress and appear how you want. Public employers typically cannot discipline you for how you express yourself on your own time – though sometimes they might try.

Employers may not unreasonably restrict off-duty conduct and must not base employment decisions on off-duty conduct that does not impact an employee’s on-the-job performance. This is known as job nexus. When a public employer tries to regulate or prohibit an employee’s off-duty conduct, it affects the right to privacy and freedom to associate. Freedom to associate includes the right to engage in a wide variety of political, social, economic, educational, religious, and cultural activities. (Warﬁeld v. Peninsula Golf & Country Club (1995) 10 Cal. 4th 594). California courts generally hold that public employees may not be disciplined for what they do in their

private life “so long as such conduct does not impair public service or cause discredit to [the] agency.” (Morrison v. State Board of Education (1960) 1. Cal. 3d 214, 222-223). California law may even allow for the labor commissioner to investigate claims where the employee was disciplined for off-duty conduct. (Labor Code §96(k)).

An exception, of course, is if you use your employer uniform, logo, or insignia while off work. Employees who display their employer’s uniform in pictures or videos, such as in social media posts, can be subject to discipline if it harms the employer’s reputation or is done for pecuniary or personal gain. In City of San Diego v. Roe (2004) 543 U.S. 77, the Court upheld the City’s right to terminate a police officer who made and sold sexually explicit videos of himself in uniform proclaiming that he is law enforcement. The Court said his behavior was detrimental to the mission and functions of the employer. Any language in dress code policies that attempt to control what employees wear on their off-duty time should be limited to situations like the Roe case, and employees should avoid wearing or using employer uniforms, logos, or insignia while off work.

Speciﬁc Uniforms

Some local government employees may be required to wear speciﬁc uniforms based on their job classiﬁcation. For example, some ﬁeld employees (police services officers, building inspectors, maintenance crews) may be required to wear uniforms, shirts, or other insignia that clearly identify them as agents of the employer, particularly when out in public or when interacting with residents. A dress code policy might even say that some departments, such as police and ﬁre, which have more rigorous uniform requirements, are not covered by the policy and are subject to their own Department-speciﬁc standards.

Check your employer’s dress code policy. It might differentiate between employees who are uniformed employees from those who are subject to more general appearance standards. Also, check your memorandum of understanding (“MOU”). Most MOUs have uniform sections that provide for speciﬁc uniform requirements or allowances. If your job title is listed in the uniform section of your MOU, you are likely required to wear the uniform that the employer provides or pays you to wear. The value of any uniform beneﬁt (regardless of if it is employer paid or an allowance) is reportable as special compensation for Classic Members – the value of the uniform costs or allowance is factored into your retirement calculation! That is one beneﬁt of

having speciﬁc uniform requirements that your co-workers in other job

classiﬁcations or departments may not be subject to.

If the amount the employer provides does not cover the cost, the employee organization can propose to increase the amount in the next MOU negotiation. The best arrangement is one where the employer provides uniforms upon hire and replacements upon employee request. Employees often prefer receiving lump-sum uniform allowances, which they can spend at their leisure. The disadvantage is that employees must use the funds to purchase uniforms, and costs often rise much faster than the allowance. This puts you and your employee organization in a position where you must continually bargain for higher amounts, which can sometimes affect how much other beneﬁts are increased. This includes safety boots as well. Most employers provide allowances for work boots but leave it to the employee organization to negotiate the amount each MOU. Some provisions might allow funds to be spent on shoelaces and insoles, while others might limit it to the boots themselves. If an allowance is provided, the employer can require you to wear the uniform or boots, and to keep it clean and properly maintained. If you receive an allowance, use it per the terms of the MOU.

Hair Styles

In 2019, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 188, which prohibits discrimination based on one’s natural hair. Known as the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), it prohibits discrimination in employment based on natural hair and hairstyles historically associated with race, including hairstyles such as afros, braids, locks, and twists. SB 188 applies to public employers. Dress code policies, at least as far as they prohibit protected hairstyles, are not enforceable. The law was amended in 2024 (AB 1815) to clarify and expand the deﬁnition of race in California’s anti-discrimination laws to explicitly state that race includes traits associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles. It removed the previously vague term “historically” to avoid confusion. If it has been a while since your employer’s dress code policy was updated, this may be an area to revise. Your employee organization will want to ensure any policy revisions are consistent with employee rights under the CROWN Act.

Facial Hair

Employers may still maintain grooming policies that require employees to secure their hair for safety or hygienic reasons. Facial hair is one common area for concern. If you are required to wear a respirator to perform your job duties, your employer may maintain a policy that requires you to shave any facial hair to ensure an adequate ﬁt for safety reasons. Likewise, policies may prohibit employees who use heavy machinery from wearing dangling clothing or jewelry that can get caught in the equipment.

Tattoos, Piercings, and Jewelry

One controversial area of dress code policies is tattoos, piercings, and jewelry. An employer can adopt new standards that are more restrictive than when you were hired. In other words, the employer can require you to change the way you have been appearing. For example, a policy might prohibit visible tattoos, large earrings, and piercings on the nose, tongue, eyebrow, or lips. This type of prohibition is generally lawful, even if current employees already have them. Even if your management knew about your nose rings when they hired you, they can establish a “no facial piercings” policy. However, the employee organization can negotiate over the change, including to “grandfather” people who already have certain body art (facial tattoos) prior to implementation. Absent this, you can be told to take the rings out – and cover the tattoos.

Offensive or Revealing Clothing or Scents

Employers often try to include language to limit distractions caused by inappropriate dress. Sometimes the language is too general or vague. The better policies identify speciﬁc examples. This may include leggings or yoga pants, athletic shoes (except during break times), ﬂip-ﬂops, or beachwear. Policies often prohibit sexually revealing clothing, such as spaghetti straps, shirts with low-cut necklines, mini-skirts, and an appearance that reveals undergarments. Policies also typically prohibit clothing with offensive or discriminatory messages, gang-related references, and strong fragrances that have odors that may interfere with others nearby.

Reasonable Accommodation

Regardless of the language of the policy, employers may have to grant an exception from the policy to accommodate an employee’s disability or religion (e.g., a Christian cross, a Jewish yarmulke, a Muslim hijab, a Sikh turban or beard). The employer can refuse to provide a speciﬁc accommodation request if it poses an undue burden. An

employer may bar an employee’s religious dress or grooming practice based on workplace safety, security, or health concerns, but only if the circumstances actually pose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business in any given situation. However, neither co-worker disgruntlement nor customer preferences constitute undue hardship. If you need accommodation, contact Human Resources to request accommodation before dressing, grooming, or otherwise acting inconsistent with the employer’s policy.

Business Casual

Many policies allow employees to wear “business casual” attire, such as on the last day of the work week or at certain events. Examples include jeans (no holes, bleach, or torn), polos, and ﬂats. The policy should be clear about what is considered acceptable “business casual” attire, and when the more lenient “business casual” standards apply. Policies often say the employee shall still maintain a professional appearance that is conducive to the event or occasion. However, good policies will cite speciﬁc examples to be clear.

Management’s Ability to Send you Home

Be sure to check the language on consequences for non-compliance. Some employers include language that allows management to send the employee home without pay. The employee organization should oppose such language. While it is within management’s prerogative to tell an employee they must go home and change, the employee should not lose pay without due process. One supervisor’s opinion about appropriate attire should not be the basis for a suspension. However, repeated violations of the same standard may amount to “not reporting in work-ready condition.” The important point is fair notice; employees should be informed when speciﬁc grooming or attire violates policy and given the opportunity to correct it prior to the employee losing pay. Ideally, the policy should say this instruction shall be done discreetly and privately. It should also include language about subsequent violations being subject to progressive discipline.

Conclusion

Your employer does have the right to enforce standards of dress and hygiene in the workplace, but you retain your right to free expression away from work. Your employee organization can play a signiﬁcant role in making sure that any dress code policy is speciﬁc and not too vague, and that workers have proper notice as to what

standards are or are not appropriate for their workplaces. Prohibited dress should be clearly identiﬁed in the policy and not subject to too much managerial discretion. The employee organization can also use its bargaining power to ensure that the policy does not place unreasonable restrictions on employees’ personal lives or self-expression, and to ensure that due process and progressive discipline are followed.

If you have concerns about the language in your employer’s policy, contact your employee organization so that they can raise it the next time the policy is renegotiated. If you are disciplined for violating the policy, contact your professional staff. They can help you evaluate if the language in the policy is too vague, if management failed to provide adequate notice or corrective action, or if progressive discipline was not followed.

Heat Illness Prevention

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) have published best practices to prevent heat illness at work. The best practices are designed to help employers reduce the risk of heat-related illness for workers as we head deep into the summer months. Suggestions include:

Train All Workers.Employers should train supervisors and workers on how to control

and recognize heat hazards. This includes ﬁrst aid.

Follow the 20% Rule.On a worker’s ﬁrst day of working in extreme heat, no more than 20% of the duration of their shift should be at full intensity in the heat. The duration of time at full intensity should be increased by no more than 20% a day until workers are used to working in the heat.

Remember These Three Words: “Water. Rest. Shade.”Workers should drink one cup of water every twenty minutes while working in the heat to stay hydrated. When the temperature is high, employers should have workers take frequent rest breaks in shaded, cool, or air-conditioned areas to recover from the heat.

Workers New to the Job are at Higher Risk.Workers who are new or returning to work in warm or hot environments need more time to adapt. More than 75% of heat-related fatalities occur during a worker’s ﬁrst week, which is why “acclimatization” – the process of building resistance to increased temperatures – is so important. Learn how to protect new workers from heat-related illnesses and monitor them until they are acclimated.

Hazardous Heat Exposure Can Happen Indoors Too.Though heat stress is typically related to outdoor work environments, and construction workers account for about one-third of heat-related deaths, workers in hot indoor environments like kitchens, laundry, warehouses, and electrical utilities are also at risk.

Engineering Controls and Modiﬁed Work Practices Can Reduce the Risk of HeatIllness.Employers should consider reducing physical activity as much as possible by planning for the work ahead and rotating job functions among workers to help minimize exertion.

If you encounter unsafe heat conditions, tell your employer immediately. If nothing changes, contact your professional staff for help, or call OSHA at 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA).

News Release - CPI Data!

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, publishes monthly consumer price index ﬁgures that look back over a rolling 12-month period to measure inﬂation.

Questions & Answers about Your Job

Each month we receive dozens of questions about your rights on the job. The following are some GENERAL answers. If you have a specific problem, talk to your professional staff.

Question: My supervisor wants to talk to me. Do I have the right to a union representative? I believe it is about my work performance and to give me a performance evaluation. I am not comfortable meeting alone.

Answer: If your supervisor is meeting to give you a performance evaluation or to comment on your work performance, then you do not have a legal right to union representation. However, you can request that someone from the employee organization be present as a witness to the meeting and, if the supervisor agrees, you can ask an association officer to accompany you if they are free.

If the purpose of the meeting is to ask questions about your work performance or other matters that could reasonably lead to discipline, or if the meeting turns into such questioning, then you do have a right to union representation. This is commonly referred to as Weingarten rights after a 1975 U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the right to union representation during personnel interrogations.

If you ﬁnd yourself in this situation, ask

to stop or postpone the meeting until

your union representation is present. If they do not stop questioning, continue to repeat that you will respond once you have had a chance to speak with your union representation. Ask if you can contact your Association ﬁrst for guidance before answering. Also ask if your responses could lead to discipline.

If you are given a direct order to respond, or you are told your answers will not be used against you, note your objection and state that you are not waving your right to a representative, but you will comply with the order. In any event, do not leave the meeting until released by your supervision. Once your supervisor has released you from the meeting, contact your Association or professional staff, who can help you identify if your Weingarten rights were violated and, if so, what to do next. You may be able to challenge any discipline you receive based on any unlawful questioning.

Question: Is there a maximum number of weeks that FMLA caps out every ﬁscal year? If the max is reached, am I able to use other PTO to supplement the FMLA leave? If so, am I able to choose which PTO I can use

(Sick, Vacation, Holiday)? Is there any reason that HR could deny FMLA leave? If so, what are some examples?

Answer: The Federal Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) of 1993 provides up to 12 weeks of job protected leave during a 12-month period for qualiﬁed medical and family reasons (up to 26 weeks for military caregiver leave). It is most often used for an employee’s serious health condition, or for the employee’s immediate family member’s serious health condition. The FMLA has several ﬁner points when it comes to various calculations. For example, the FMLA permits employers to choose the 12-month period for determining the employee’s leave entitlement. It may be a calendar year, a ﬁxed 12-month period for all employees (e.g., a ﬁscal year), 12 months measured forward from the ﬁrst date leave is used, or a rolling backwards 12-month period from the date leave is used. Check your employer’s policy to see what method your employer uses to calculate the 12-month period.

You may be able to use other forms of paid leave once your FMLA leave runs out. FMLA leave is unpaid, but employer policies often allow or require employees to use their paid leave

concurrently with any FMLA-approved absence. This means an employee is typically paid during some, or all, of their FMLA leave by using their own leave accruals. Whether accrued paid leave is run concurrently or can be preserved for when your FMLA leave ends is determined by the law, the employer’s leave policy, and the MOU. If you do have paid leave available after the 12 weeks, you can use that leave consistent with the employer’s rules for using that type of leave. If the leave is for your own serious health condition, your employer may charge your sick leave if you have any on the books, unless you are receiving paid disability beneﬁts.

The employer cannot deny FMLA leave if you qualify. The employer typically wants to count your absences as FMLA if possible. However, the employer may tell you that your leave request does not qualify under the FMLA. Examples may include: (1) You have already exhausted your 12 weeks in the 12-month period,

(2) you have not been employed for at least 12 months, (3) you have not performed at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of leave, (4) you are employed at a worksite that has less than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius, (5) your reason for leave is not

FMLA-qualifying, (6) your health condition does not involve inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider, (7) the family member you want leave to care for is not a child, parent, or spouse, (8) you requested intermittent leave or a reduced leave schedule and your medical documentation does not support it, (9) you did not request leave 30 days in advance or as soon as practicable if the need for leave is unforeseeable, (10) you have not provided certiﬁcation from a health care provider when you gave notice of the need for leave or within ﬁve business days thereafter, and you have not cured any deﬁciency within seven calendar days, (11) the employer has reason to doubt the validity of the certiﬁcation and it is not cured by a second health care provider designated by the employer, and (12) you have not recertiﬁed the serious health condition once every six months.

If you are told your leave does not qualify under the FMLA, be sure to ask if it qualiﬁes under the California Family Rights Act of 1993 (“CFRA”). CFRA can apply more broadly in situations where the FMLA might not apply. For example, CFRA applies to all public sector workers, regardless of the employer’s size. If you do not qualify for CFRA leave, you might request a protected leave of absence under the Federal

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”). Unpaid leave is a form of reasonable accommodation under the ADA. You may be able to use your paid leave accruals, if any, concurrent with leave provided as a medical accommodation.

Question: Can I ﬁle an anonymous complaint? I recently discovered ﬁnancial mismanagement by one of our executives. The evidence points to ﬁnancial fraud at the highest levels. I believe this information needs to see the light of day. However, I am fearful of retaliation if I report this through our normal chain-of-command and employer policies. I am thinking of sending an anonymous letter to our elected officials with no return address. I thought I would check with you ﬁrst.

Answer: There are laws protecting those who report violations of state and federal law, and, very often, there are local ordinances, rules, and policies granting similar protections for those exposing violations of local ordinances and policies. See for example Labor Code §1102.5, which protects from retaliation those who have reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a violation of or noncompliance with a local, state, or

federal rule or regulation, regardless of whether disclosing the information is part of your job duties.

You may not want to ﬁle an anonymous complaint if by otherwise disclosing the information you gain legal protection from retaliation. However, it is understandable if you want to avoid the chance of retaliation in the ﬁrst place, rather than having to pursue a possible lawsuit. For that reason, many cities, counties, and districts have systems in place to receive anonymous complaints, as do many state and federal agencies.

If you believe the executive’s ﬁnancial mismanagement is a crime (e.g., theft or embezzlement), you may want to report it directly to law enforcement or the District Attorney. If federal or state funds are involved, there may be watchdog agencies overseeing those funds you can also report to. You can send an anonymous letter to your elected officials or have someone do so on your behalf, but there is no way to guarantee anonymity. This is especially true if you are one of a very small group of people who would have direct knowledge of this violation. The executive may suspect you, or be able to ﬁgure out it was you, from a process of elimination.

Stephanie Kinnison