Woodstock’s Groovy Employment Law Legacy

Even if you were born long after 1969, Woodstock and its cultural influences probably affect you. Here are some key employment law cases that have roots in Woodstock.

Long Hair, Mustaches, Beards, and Employer Grooming Standards: Woodstock didn’t create long hair, but it highlighted the generational divide between young and older men over hair length. 

In Kelly v. Johnson (1976), a police officer challenged his employer’s prohibition of beards, and requirements for short hair and side burns. The Supreme Court upheld this regulation, rejecting the officer’s contention that the First Amendment gave him a right of self-expression. 

Sexualizing Women: Woodstock didn’t create the sexual revolution, but it highlighted the libertine norms of the then-younger generation. 

Southwest Airlines— which began operations in 1967— was a tiny carrier until they broke with tradition and attired their flight attendants in hot pants. Their market research showed that 70% of Southwest passengers were men who traveled on business. Connecting the dots of the male psyche, they reasoned that they could gain a marketing edge by capitalizing on the appearance of their flight attendants. At this time, every airline hired only women for flight attendants.

Along came Gregory Wilson, arguing that Southwest’s policy of hiring only women was sex discrimination. A Texas federal court agreed in Wilson v. Southwest Airlines (1981). Southwest changed from hot pants to khakis and polo shirts, while other airlines still dress flight attendants more formally.

Recreational Drugs: Woodstock didn’t inaugurate illicit drug use but it served as a visible embrace of psychoactive drugs. 

Just 14 years after Woodstock, President Reagan issued wide-ranging drug testing requirements for some federal employees—and also for certain private industries. In a broadly-worded opinion, the Supreme Court upheld drug testing in Railway Labor Executives Ass’n (a union) v. Von Raab (1989). Reagan intended for private sector employers to follow the government’s lead—and clearly, they did. 

Now drug testing has expanded from urine to blood testing, and from testing illicit drugs to testing illicit and licit drugs.

As Joann Worley would say on Laugh In, “Sock it to me.”  So I'll sock it to you with an emblematic photo of the irreverence that Woodstock inspired.