6 Hotel Workers Suspended Over Dress Code, Disney Says

Six workers at the Disneyland Hotel were suspended Wednesday for failing to comply with a strict new appearance code that Disney began enforcing this week, Disney officials said.

Disney spokesman Bob Roth said all six were men who refused to shave beards or mustaches after receiving verbal and written warnings that they must comply.

A union official, however, disputed the company’s figures, contending that only one worker was suspended. Don Mear, business representative for Operating Engineers Local 501, said five other hotel employees received written warnings. But he said those workers shaved their beards and mustaches by Wednesday, although they plan to file a grievance over the new dress code.

Roth said the six received three-day suspensions and will be eligible to return to work on Monday. If, at that time, they still have not complied with the grooming code, they may be fired.

“Unfortunately, at that point it becomes grounds for termination,” Roth said. “By then, it would be apparent that they are not going to comply, and we’d have given them ample opportunity.”

Roth would not identify the men or their jobs but said “most” were affiliated with Mear’s union.

More than 1,300 workers at the hotel were told they would have to adhere to a new set of grooming standards when the hotel was sold by the Wrather Corp. to Walt Disney Co. and Industrial Equity (Pacific) Limited, of Hong Kong, in January.

Disney officials say the standards are designed to promote the clean-cut, wholesome image that the company wants to project.