Employment Law: Jews and Tattoos

It's summertime, so a relevant topic to discuss is short-sleeves and tattoos.

A recent article discussed a case from this past January regarding a waiter who quit his job when he refused to wear a long-sleeve shirt to cover up his tattooed arms. (תע"א 8435-09 - Gabai, Moshe v. Pinot Cafe Ltd.) The waiter claimed that the restaurant discriminated against him because of his tattoos and that forcing him to wear long-sleeves created an oppressive working environment. Therefore, he said, his quitting was the equivalent of being fired. The labor court said that since it was winter and the restaurant had air-conditioning, it was not oppressive to require the waiter to wear long-sleeves. The court further said that although the caselaw so far has only dealt with discrimination based on outward appearance when it was used as a proxy for some other discriminatory purpose, a number of cases have ruled that a business may require its employees to maintain an appropiate appearance and may institute a dress code. The court applied a proportionality test in this case and determined that it was not discriminatory for the employer to require the waiter to wear long sleeves to cover his tattoos, especially since he was personally required to serve food and drinks to customers.

For an article on the prevalence of tattoos in Israel see here.

For an article on similar US law regarding tattoos at work see here,
here, here.

For a study of employer preferences regarding tattooed or non-tattooed employees see Visible Tattoos and Employment in the Restaurant Service Industry. 

For an article on tattooing in Jewish Law and how it applies to permanent or semi-permanent make-up see here.

For an article dispelling the common misconception that a Jew with a tattoo cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery see here.

I have wondered for years whether a UV tattoo that can only be seen under a blacklight is a violation of Jewish law. Since it can't be seen by the naked eye, perhaps it is permitted. (See e.g. the discussion about eating bugs here in the text accompanying footnote 4.) If anyone has any information on this issue, I'd be grateful to be enlightened.

Similarly, I wonder if a tooth tattoo is permitted under Jewish law. (Although the one in the video below is on an implant.)