If an article of clothing that you wear, such as a turban, hijab, or yarmulke, is required by your religion, you should ask your employer for a religious accommodation to wear it at work. Your employer has a legal obligation to grant your request if it does not impose a burden, or an undue hardship, under Title VII.
While a dress code the is enforce on all employees is generally a valid reason for not allowing religious clothing, your employer may also try to justify denying you the ability to wear your religious clothing at work based on concerns about offending or losing customers; this is not valid. Customer preference is never a justification for a discriminatory practice. Refusing to hire someone because customers or co-workers may be uncomfortable with that person's religion or national origin is just as illegal as refusing to hire that person because of religion or national origin in the first place. This prohibition applies to other employment decisions as well, including promotion, transfers, work assignments and wages.
If your employer wants to lawfully prevent you from wearing this clothing, the employer would need to show that allowing you to wear this clothing would pose an undue hardship on the business. Real or perceived customer preference would rarely, if ever, meet the undue hardship standard.
Health and safety concerns, however, may meet the undue hardship standard. For example, a factory required that assembly line workers wear pants to protect them from getting loose clothing caught in the machinery and from suffering burns. The company terminated an employee after she refused to wear pants and claimed that her religion requires women to wear dresses. The court held that reasonable accommodation cannot undermine the safety of plant operations or create undue hardship on the company by increasing job hazards, and therefore the firing was determined to be lawful.
If you have been asked to remove or not wear clothing that is part of your religious identity, you may want to ask your employer for an accommodation to wear this clothing. If the employer denies that request, then you should quickly consult with an attorney or federal or state anti-discrimination agency before wearing the clothing and risking discipline or termination, as it can be difficult to undo the harm once you have been terminated or otherwise disciplined. For more information on this topic, please view our page on Dress Codes and Grooming Codes.