Disney Grants Day’s Grace to Unshaven Pair

Officials of the Walt Disney Co. on Monday issued a one-day reprieve to two employees of the Disneyland Hotel who had been told they would be fired if they did not shave off their mustaches and beards in compliance with Disney’s strict appearance code.

The two employees, Mike Searles, an engineer at the hotel, and bartender Mike Ferrington, were given a three-day suspension last Wednesday and were told that they would be fired upon returning to work Monday if they did not shave.

But Disney spokesman Bob Roth said the deadline had been extended so that the company’s labor relations office could familiarize itself with the grooming cases and so that Searles and Ferrington would have time to “fully understand the ramifications of their termination.”

Searles and Ferrington are among six employees who were suspended last week for failing to comply with the appearance code, which among other things prohibits beards and mustaches on men and heavy makeup and long fingernails on women.

Disney, which has long had a strict grooming code, purchased the Disneyland Hotel in January.

Union representatives of the hotel workers, contending that the standards are unfair, have vowed to fight the policy by filing grievances with Disney. However, Roth said that even if such grievances are upheld in arbitration, a worker fired for not complying with the policy might still face a charge of insubordination that could result in termination.

Of the six men who were suspended last week, two have since shaved and two others still are suspended, Roth said.