Can you fire an employee for the color of their shoelaces?

• A. Yes, for any reason.
• B. No, only if it involves harassment.
• C. No, you cannot fire for shoelace color.
• D. Yes, provided it is not for a protected characteristic.

Answer: (D)

Enforcing dress code or appearance policies while avoiding discrimination is the idea. If there’s a valid dress code that requires a certain look and an employee violates it by wearing shoelaces of an unapproved color, you can take disciplinary action, including termination, as long as the policy is applied consistently and there’s no link to a protected characteristic. The color of shoelaces itself isn’t a protected trait, so firing for violating the policy isn’t inherently illegal. You just can’t terminate someone for reasons tied to protected characteristics such as race, religion, gender, or age. So the correct approach is that you may fire for shoelace color if it breaches a legitimate, uniformly enforced policy and there’s no discrimination involved.