Teen denied a job because of tattoos

This actually really annoys me!

Logan McNicholas has told Manchester Evening News how he applied for a job at Holland and Barrett but was turned down for the position (ahem, AFTER they got him to do a trial shift) because of his tattoos.

18 year old Logan had an interview with Holland and Barrett and done a 2 hour trial shift on their shop floor.

This included serving customers and seeing to the shop floor.

It was only once the trial shift was over he was told about the appearance and dress policy, his tattoos were brought up, tattoos would need to be covered up if you wanted to work in their store.

Considering Logan, who lives in Blackley, has a compass tattooed on to his left hand, and the words ‘STAY TRUE’ across his knuckles, complying to the cover-up rule was pretty much impossible.

Logan told MEN: ‘It is pretty disappointing. The feedback I got was that I did really well so to miss out on something like this makes it quite hard to take. They asked me if there was any way of covering them up and I said only by wearing gloves, which they said wouldn’t be appropriate. I was serving customers and talking to staff during the trial and no one seemed to have a problem, far from it.’

Holland and Barrett said ”Although we do not discriminate against tattoos, like most high-street retailers we do ask staff to observe high standards of personal appearance and dress, including covering tattoos when serving customers. The candidate in question was informed of this when the manager determined that his tattoos could not be covered. We will ensure our staff are aware of company policy on dress, and that this is communicated consistently across the business to new candidates.’

However I myself have been stopped in my tracks applying for jobs because of my tattoos. When I was made redundant and I was applying for every job going just to try and keep a roof over my head, a lot of application forms asked if you have tattoos.

I fail to see how having ink on you can lower your ability in the work place?

Some people like to hang art on their walls while others like to wear it on their skin and surely we shouldn’t be discriminated for that? My largest tattoo is on my arm and it could be covered if I needed it to be but I have done ok for myself, having a tattoo doesn’t make me a thug!

My husband has a large hand tattoo, to be honest he is covered in tattoos and he holds down a great full time job. While at work he has even been commended for how far he goes for others including helping a blind man cross the road when the traffic lights weren’t working and stopping an armed robbery. His tattoos haven’t held him back.

Surely Logan should have been judged on his work rather than his art?

I wish Logan the best of luck on his job search and hope he finds something soon.