■ Viewpoint
According to polar news reports, the owner of an electronics company in Dongguan, Guangdong, found that the employees to be hired had tattoos on their bodies and refused to hire, which caused controversy. On May 5, the boss responded that tattooed people may affect the atmosphere of the entire factory, and they are still welcome to join after washing their tattoos.
The boss's words and deeds of "not hiring tattoos" seem to be for the good of employees, but in fact they may be suspected of employment discrimination. In some special industries such as military service, internal affairs management of the people's police, and recruitment of civil servants, China has regulations such as "no tattoos". However, enterprises such as electronics factories are not special occupations, and it is not appropriate to include "tattooers" in the list of rejections.
China's Employment Promotion Law clearly stipulates that workers enjoy equal employment and the right to choose their own employment in accordance with the law. Workers shall not be discriminated against in employment on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender, religious belief, etc. Moreover, the relevant laws and regulations in China do not prohibit or restrict the tattoos of ordinary workers.
Allowing workers to remove tattoos, in addition to costing money, may also cause harm to the worker's body. If an enterprise compels workers to remove tattoos, it will also be suspected of infringing on the workers' physical rights.
During the report, the reporter called the Dongguan 12333 human resources and social security service hotline, and the staff said that the labor law does not explicitly stipulate employment restrictions for tattooed persons. However, companies have the right to choose whether or not to hire workers according to their own rules and regulations.
Having said that, the company's rules and regulations cannot be arbitrary, and it is understandable that the relevant requirements are set due to the specificity of the position, but the additional conditions that are not related to the position may be difficult for job seekers to accept. For example, some companies even required job seekers to be "vegetarian" before. Regulations such as these obviously cannot be a recruitment requirement for enterprises. In this regard, it is also necessary for the regulatory authorities to increase their supervision.
Business owners care about whether employees are tattooed or not, and they link their tattoos to personality, and being affected by stereotypes is actually a kind of employment discrimination.
In the final analysis, the purpose of enterprise recruitment is to recruit talents who can be qualified for the position, and the focus should also be on the ability of the job seeker and the matching degree of the relevant position, not whether there is a tattoo. If you focus too much on the appearance and image of job seekers, you can sometimes miss out on talent.
□ Dai Xian (Staff) (Source: Beijing News)