NYC lawmaker makes push to ban tattoo discrimination by employers and landlords

Tat’s all, folks?

Discriminating against tattoo-sporting employees and job applicants would be illegal under a new bill that Democratic New York City Councilman Shaun Abreu is planning to introduce this week.

The new legislation aims to prohibit employers, landlords and others in positions of authority from singling out people with tattoos as a precondition against hiring, promotions, signing a lease or granting other benefits.

“No New Yorker should face discrimination for having a tattoo when they are trying to get a job, housing, or public services,” Abreu, who represents West Harlem, told the Daily News. “Tattoos are a form of personal self-expression that, too often, incur bias and discrimination from employers, landlords and service providers.”

Abreu’s bill, which is co-sponsored by Council members Nantasha Williams, Justin Brannan and Kevin Riley, would put the onus on employers to justify ordering an employee to cover up a tattoo while on the job. In such scenarios, bosses would have to prove both that the absence of a tattoo is a “bona fide occupational qualification” and that there is “no less discriminatory means” of meeting that qualification.

The bill does allow for exceptions, though, but it does not specify what those might be. Instead, it leaves that up to the city Human Rights Commission, which the bill asserts would need to base any exceptions “on consideration of public policy.”

The prohibition, if approved by the full Council and Mayor Adams, would not apply when in conflict with any pre-existing state or federal laws.

Through the bill, Abreu intends to accomplish his goals through amending a provision in the city’s administrative code that’s focused more broadly on discrimination.

In a statement released to The News, and in the bill language itself, Abreu suggests the ban against tattoo discrimination could have religious undertones as well. In the statement to The News, his team notes that the bill “would clarify that a religious observance in employment includes having a tattoo.”

“It is time for the city to reject all forms of discrimination and codify protections for New Yorkers with tattoos,” Abreu added.