Wearing the clothing of your native country can be an expression of your national origin, as well as your race or religion. Discrimination or harassment on any of these bases is against the law. Your employer may try to justify denying you the ability to wear your native or religious clothing at work based on concerns about offending or losing customers. However, 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. Similarly, an employer may not fire someone because of religion and/or national origin. This 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. According to some courts, to bring a discrimination claim on this basis, you would need to show, in addition to your employer's act of discrimination, that you were harmed by your employer's actions, such as being assigned to a position of less responsibility or pay. If you have been asked to remove or not wear clothing that is part of your national or religious identity, you may want to ask your employer to be allowed to wear this clothing. If you are denied, you should consult with an attorney, federal or state antidiscrimination agency, or shop steward or grievance person (if you are a union member) first before either wearing the clothing or risking employer discipline.