Tattoo Policy of Olive Garden Restaurant

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: fl
Hi have a few questions on where my rights are in this situation. I work for olive garden, a darden restaurant. We recently have been enforced on tattoos. I have worked there for the last 7 years and got a tattoo near my wrist area 5 yrs ago with the permission that it was ok as long as it was covered up. I did as i was asked with a bracelet. I then recently was told to wear my sleeves down which i did. This past week i was told i could no longer serve (but i can work in the kitchen) because it was corporates rule that we needed to be able to roll our sleeves twice without it being visible. I decided that since it was a job issue to start the process of removal. I was told it was up to corporate on if i could return to serving while i was going thru the process of removal. My manager did not contact them on friday so i called. they told me they would have to talk to my restaurant first to see what they said. while i was waiting to hear back i was told by another employee that the manager said they called and it was up to the restaurant. well when i called back the restaurant i got told by this same manager that corporate told them that i could not serve. I asked her then about it being told it was the restaurants choice and was told again it was corporate. the employee asked the manager about our discussion to say that she was the mediator and just said what our general manager told her to say. So she lied to me about it being corporate. to go further we called corporate again on this policy to be told as long as it was covered 100% of the time with a sleeve it was ok and that this was for all olive gardens. i have called several olive gardens to get different policies on this. What can i do?

I just got off the phone with the manager i spoke with and am now being told that it was the choice of our general manager and district. Even though i was sat down and told that it was not his choice and it was corporates. I spent $600 on my first removal session under the impression that this was an over all corporate policy. I thought I was helping further my career with this company. The general manager knew i was looking into removing it and still never told me that it was really his personal choice. The same was a lie when i was told i couldn't serve while i was getting it removed because of corporate. again this was his choice. I am not the only server who choose to get their's removed because of this supposedly policy. We need to know what rights we have

You have the right to follow the instructions of the manager you work under or to find other employment.

Even though he is lying and having other managers lie by telling us it was corporates choice and not his when it was? And that it isn't an olive garden policy? Their policy states that as long as it is covered 100% by your sleeve it's is acceptable.

Locations can enforce their own rules, which may be stricter than corporate policies. You have no recourse but to either comply with your locations policies, or leave. Having a tattoo is not a legally protected right.

(And if you intend to continue in public facing positions, you need to consider whether it's more important to be tattooed or employed.)

I took the choice to remove it even though i was offered another position that will allow me to keep it. I understand it is not a protected right to have one. What i don't understand is how my employer is allowed to tell me this is an overall corporate policy for all olive gardens. making me believe that in order to serve for any olive garden i would have to no longer have it when i could have just transferred and kept the tattoo. It just doesn't seem right that he can lie. Or that a franchise that isn't individually owned can have a policy but that the restaurant can have it's own on sole discretion. It's not my fault this person has a personal issue with tats and not the company

There are a lot of things that don't seem right but are legal. This is one of them.

He's the boss. What he says goes. Even if.

Agree, it may not seem fair to you but unfair does not equal illegal. Sorry.

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making me believe that in order to serve for any olive garden i would have to no longer have it when i could have just transferred and kept the tattoo.

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You seem to be laboring under the misapprehnsion that you'd be granted a transfer for such a reason. It's more likely that you would find yourself unemployed, as is common in chain restaurants. Refusing to transfer you is also "unfair", but not in the slightest little bit illegal.

The working world sucks and is largely unfair. As long as employers are not treating you illegally, however, you'll have to get used to it sucking and being unfair.

Thank you for your responses. I have been told that this is not a rule and that we are allowed to wear sleeves down and they are contacting my managers. I have been flustered bc every other person I have talked to at corpoarate has given me a different answer for this until I called headquarters in Orlando. And yes Missy, I could have transferred if I had wanted. Even to another darden restaurant. I am not under the impression.