This past week, though it only leaked out in quiet news reports here and there, the acceptance of tattoos in the work environment took a big leap forward. It may have taken five years, but 35-year-old Nadine Bélisle of Quebec, Canada has struck a blow for everyone who’s ever been told to cover up a tattoo at work.
Bélisle is employed as a daycare worker, but she also has a tattoo of a dragon on the back of her right shoulder blade. When she came to work with the tattoo exposed, her employers told her that it would have to be covered up.
Well, that sounded like a whole bunch of nonsense to Nadine and she filed a lawsuit with the backing of her union which claimed that being forced to cover up a tattoo is a violation of rights. The entire thing went to court and finally, this past May 27th, Quebec Judge Jean Bouchard decided that:
“Tattooing nowadays is a phenomenon that cuts across all levels of society. If it was once associated with delinquents, that’s no longer the case.”
Nadine is now permitted to have her tattoo visible for all to see at her place of work. Wow. This is such a great thing. Speaking as someone who has had to cover up tattoos in the past, I am absolutely delighted to see that legal courts are actually beginning to take a sensible stance on tattoos and the work place. We all know that a tattoo is not an indicator of how hard you’re willing to work or how capable of a worker that you are. This ruling is going to go a long way in helping to establish that fact amongst the public.
Nice one Nadine! Nice one Judge Jean Bouchard!