Q: I want to employ some bar staff to work in my bar. I want them to be good looking to draw in the ‘punters’. Can I do this legally? Are there any laws about discriminating against ‘less attractive’ people?
Sep 28 2006
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
We make choices every day and many of those choices are lawful, including the decision to hire an ‘attractive' person. However, although scientists have tried to quantify the term ‘attractive’ it is still a subjective category, so be careful. If your idea of ‘unattractive’ happens to be a characteristic common among a protected group, such as an ‘ethnic minority’ or ‘older’ workers, and you don't hire a person for that reason, then you would be discriminating indirectly and subject to pay heavy penalties if rejected applicants chose to sue your company. However, if your idea of ‘unattractive’ is somewhere just short of Kate Moss and if the protected minorities have as much chance of falling into that category as any other applicant, then you are free to make that choice. Some employers have tried to argue that they should be able to discriminate for example against ‘older applicants’, because their business sells products to ‘younger people’ whom they assume are more likely to want younger people serving them. But beware, this is highly unlikely to succeed, as it would totally undermine the legislation designed to remove prejudice.
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