Wearing a Beard to Work When You're not Abraham Lincoln

From The NY Times Magazine's Ethicist:

Too Hairy to Teach?

By Randy Cohen

My husband, an excellent and experienced preschool teacher — he is the best at what he does — applied for a job at a local public school. The interview went great. The principal was impressed by his résumé, recommendations and abilities, but feared that his beard would alienate community parents. Would he shave it? He politely declined. She said she would not hire him unless he did. Legal? Ethical? — name withheld, Georgia

I’ve no doubt that despite being his wife, you provide an unbiased account of your husband’s merits, but sadly his whiskers do not define a legally protected class in regard to job discrimination — as do sex, age and race, for example. (A beard worn as a religious obligation could enjoy legal protection, but that’s not the case here.)

While the principal behaved legally, she acted unethically and unprofessionally by basing a hiring decision on your husband’s facial foliage (if that is actually what she did). She mistreated your husband by denying him a job for which he is qualified, she failed her school by depriving it of a capable teacher and she besmirched the honor of our nation’s barbers who valiantly provide the neatly trimmed beards so vital to our way of life. Or something. Further, the principal let her students down by setting them an example of pusillanimous conformity, and she insulted their parents by assuming they are as superficial as she is. (But, in her defense, I get the feeling that she was neatly dressed.)

Your husband might consider resubmitting his application accompanied by a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Or many such pictures on a wad of five dollar bills. No, no — bribery is a bad idea here. Or anywhere.

UPDATE: Both the principal and the job-seeker remain obdurate. He continues to teach at his current school.

This amusing anecdote happened to someone with a presumably trimmed, neat beard while applying for a job at a preschool. Now, consider the chasidic guys who have wildly untrimmed beard that apply for jobs in corporate, white-shoe offices. Unlike this interviewer who explicitly named the beard as reason for not hiring, no corporation would ever make themselves liable for religious discrimination by so much as implying that a beard (or yarmulka, but less so) is the reason for passing over a job applicant--so while there theoretically is legal protection, it's virtually impossible to prove.

That being said, unruly facial hair should not be reason for despair (or unemployment for that matter). Rest assured that our schools would hire a bearded doctor, lawyer, accountant or defeated political candidate without a moment's hesitation--well, as long as you don't forget to include a wad of bills in the application.