Can an employer fire or refuse to hire someone for having tattoos?

Question

Can an employer fire or refuse to hire someone for having tattoos?

Answer

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, an advisory body for the UK Government, has recently issued a statement encouraging employers to be less hostile to employees and potential employees who have tattoos. This was in response to a common culture or dismissing or refusing to hire workers because of their tattoos. So what can an employer legally do in response to a tattoo?
If the employee has been working with the employer for less than two years or has yet to be hired, it is likely that the law does not prevent the employer from hiring or firing the employee as he pleases, as the right to protection from unfair dismissal only arises after two years. This might be different if the tattoo had some religious symbolism, as s.10 of the Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination on religious grounds, but this will only be the case if the employee could prove that the employer would have treated an employee with non-religious tattoos differently.
If the employee has been employed for more than two years, they have a right to not be dismissed unfairly. The employer must, therefore, have a fair reason for dismissing the employee. Having a tattoo relates to the conduct of the employee, so is a potentially fair reason : whether it is actually fair will depend on the nature of the employment and other features of the case. The law general leans in favour of the employer, however: as long as the dismissal was in a band of reasonable response, the dismissal will be deemed fair and legal. It is likely, then, that in many professions, employers are entitled to dismiss employees purely for having visible tattoos.

References

Table of Cases

Iceland Frozen Foods v Jones [1983] ICR 17

Table of Legislation

Employment Rights Act 1996

Websites

Dawson C, ‘Visible Tattoos are Career Limiting say ACAS’ (TameBay, 25 September 2016), accessed 22 October 2016