We’ve been hearing a lot lately about management attempting to institute a dress code in several locations. There’s only one thing to say about that: THERE IS NO DRESS CODE!

During the contract bargaining, management put dress code language into a proposal for Article 3; however, they took that language off the table. They did not do this "without prejudice". That means they did not preserve their ability to negotiate a dress code at some later date during the life of the contract. This is important to remember.

What appears to be happening now is that management, in certain locations, is attempting to reinstitute the dress code. The rationale they give is that the Annual Personnel Reminders state that you must dress in a manner that is "acceptable in similar work in the community and suitable to the work environment".

The part of the Annual Personnel Reminders, Section 1.6 Conduct On and Off the Job that addresses the dress code also states:

SSA will not prescribe what you may wear unless:

Keep all of this in mind when you discuss a dress code with management. Be sure that when they tell you that employees must meet a community standard that your next response resembles the information shown above.