As a general rule, the answer is yes, as long as those differences reflect current social norms. Below you will find out what the courts have said about this issue and get tips on implementing a dress code. When an employer's dress code differentiates between male and female employees, the charge often is made that a gender specific requirement constitutes sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII). However, generally, the courts do not require that both sexes must follow the exact same rules. Instead, they hold only that both sexes, when in similar situations, should be held to the same general standard. As an example, you might say that all office employees with customer contact (regardless of sex) must present a well-groomed, professional appearance.

It is a well-settled principle of law that dress requirements that reflect current social norms typically have been upheld, even when they affect only one sex. Also, in the same vein, policies prohibiting male employees from wearing earrings, but allowing women to wear them, generally have been upheld. For example, the court in Kleinsorge v. Eyeland Corp., found that minor differences in personal appearance codes that reflect customary modes of grooming do not constitute sex discrimination.

Therefore, the employer's request that a male employee not wear earrings, when female employees were allowed to so, did not violate Title VII. Men generally have not been successful in claiming discrimination when policies restrict long hair for them only. In fact, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) typically does not pursue such charges. For example, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in Harper v. Blockbuster Entertainment, 139 F.3d 1385 (11th Cir.), cert. denied 525 U.S. 1000 (1998), acknowledged the EEOC's position and found that the employer's policy prohibiting long hair for male employees did not violate Title VII.

Dress codes that have no basis in social customs, that differentiate significantly between men and women, or that impose a greater burden on women usually are not upheld. As a practical matter, you actually have a lot of leeway in what you can require your employees to wear in the workplace. Bottom line, if a dress code is established for business reasons and applied uniformly, it generally will not violate employees' civil rights, even if it has different standards for men and women.

That said, your dress code should not differentiate between men and women without good reason. To prevent legal claims, you should reflect current social norms, business needs, and safety requirements. And finally, you should make sure you explain as best you can the underlying rationale for your policy to employees. They may not like your position any better, but at least they will know your intent and purpose.

• Once again, it is renewal time. You all should have received your renewal questionnaire and schedules from us about a month ago. We need to have your renewal information back by October 1st.
• KCAMP’s annual membership meeting will once again be held in conjunction with the KAC conference. It will be November 19th at 5 PM in Cypress A meeting room, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Wichita.
• KCAMP has partnered with OSS Law Enforcement Advisors to produce a model policy/procedure manual for Sheriffs Departments. This includes both patrol and jail operations. Also included are sample job descriptions for the department. We will get this information to you as soon as we decide how best to disseminate the information. It is in electronic format so that you will be able to copy and paste as needed.
• SHERIFFS: Please review your vehicle pursuit policy. Recent claims have highlighted the need for policies that balance both the need to pursue and the safety to the public as well as frequent training for our officers on the policy. During thechase, officers should be constantly re-evaluating the need to pursue. Make sure your policy addresses multi-jurisdictional pursuits. Just because the first jurisdiction initiates the chase, does not alleviate your jurisdiction from the responsibility of deciding if the chase is warranted.

• How do I add a vehicle or other property to our insurance? KCAMP automatically insures newly acquired property that the County purchases during the year, up to $1 million, without that being reported to us. Which is plenty to cover small purchases throughout the year, such as office equipment. You should make a practice of notifying us of vehicle, real property, construction equipment and large purchases during the year so that you do not go over your $1 million limit of automatic coverage. The correct method of notifying us is to use the schedule change forms on our website: www.kcamp.org under the Forms link. There are three forms: Building Addition, Equipment Addition and Vehicle Addition.
• How do I get a certificate of insurance? Certificates of insurance are sometimes required by financiers that have an interest in a piece of property that you are leasing. Frequently this occurs with construction equipment leases. Certificates are available through Melissa Herron (formerly Melissa Schmidt) at Haake Companies. Melissa asks that you email or fax her the certificate request form from our website, which is also under the forms link.
• Does KCAMP offer any training for employees/elected officials? Yes, through various formats. Brandon Mann, KCAMP’s Risk Manager, conducts on-site training on a variety of topics such as: Workplace Harassment, Employment Law for Supervisors, R&B Liability Issues, Performance Evaluations and Managing Risks of R&B Operations; all are at no cost to the County.
• What is our deductible? Most of our members have a $500 physical damage deductible. A select few have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. Physical damage, of course, is damage to county-owned property. Although most members do not have liability deductibles, a select few counties have liability deductibles for General Liability, Law Enforcement Liability or Errors & Omissions Liability.
• How much insurance coverage do we have? For liability coverage, we provide $500,000 coverage if the Kansas Tort Cap applies to the claim or $1 million if the Tort Cap does not apply. In other words, if the claim involves Kansas law and will be heard in a Kansas court, there is $500K in coverage. If the claim involves a Federal law and will be heard in Federal court, there is $1 million available. There is no limit to the number of liability claims (called an annual aggregate) a County can have in any given year for Auto Liability or General Liability. There is, however, a $1 million annual aggregate for Law Enforcement Liability, Errors & Omissions and Employee Benefits Liability. For property coverage, we provide either replacement cost or actual cash value coverage for county owned property, depending on the type of property. Real property, including buildings and contents, are covered at replacement cost. All other property, such as vehicles, construction equipment and other mobile equipment, are covered for actual cash value.
• Where do we get coverage for special events like fairs, rodeos and carnivals? KCAMP generally does not provide insurance coverage for these types of activities; it must be purchased separately. However, we will usually protect the County for county operated fairs if the Commissioners have control over and appoint the Fair Board members. Our insurance broker, Haake Companies, is happy to assist counties with obtaining this special event coverage. Melissa Herron is the contact person with Haake. She can be reached at 913-491-1999.
• How do I get more insurance cards for our vehicles? The insurance cards are not vehicle-specific, so you can photocopy an insurance card from one vehicle and put it in another vehicle. We will send out new insurance cards at renewal, equivalent to the number of vehicles that you have insured with us.
• Are our volunteers (such as volunteer firemen) covered by our insurance when they are driving their personal vehicles for County business? First we have to separate the question into liability coverage versus physical damage coverage on the vehicle itself. KCAMP only insures county-owned property for physical damage, so we would not cover any damage to the employee’s vehicle. On the liability coverage, the employee’s own auto liability insurance would be primary, and KCAMP’s liability insurance would be secondary. In other words, if there was an accident the vehicle’s liability insurance would pay first up to the limit of insurance before KCAMP’s liability coverage would be active.
• Another organization/business/municipality wants to borrow our vehicle. Is that ok? We will insure the vehicle while it is being used by a permissive driver, whether a county employee or not. Just remember that any accidents that person has while using your vehicle will reflect negatively on your premiums. So use caution before you turn over the keys.
• Someone wants to rent our community building. What should we require? At a very minimum, you should have a rental agreement that all users must sign before they are allowed to use the facility. The agreement should have a “hold harmless” clause in it, which should protect the County from liability. Additionally, you may want to require that users provide their own insurance coverage for the activity, provide proof of the coverage, and even possibly have the County named as an additional named insured on the renter’s policy. We can assist you by providing a sample agreement if needed.