Can my maneger make me take off my acrylic nails??

Absolutely he can tell you to remove the nails. Long nails can be a horrible health hazard, since they harbor bacteria; long nails, especially fake ones like yours, can also puncture gloves very easily. If your fake nails are that important to you, quit your job and find another where they're not an issue.

The employer has to follow safety and hygiene laws. This is not "his/her" rule. It is a health and safety requirement. When you work with food, you are supposed to follow very strict guidelines, both to protect you and to protect the consumer. If the manager let you violate these rules he puts his job and the company as a whole at risk. Take off the nails.

Call the ACLU... I am assuming you live in Staten Island NY. New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director: Donna Lieberman 125 Broad Street, 19th Floor New York, NY 10004 Phone: 212-607-3300 Fax: 212-607-3318

Yes they could be a safety hazard and they can poke holes in the gloves. You manager has every legal right to fire you if you do not take them off. If you want to wear fake nails find a job where you are not handling food.

Be happy that YOU have a JOB...that it J O B !~!~!! Life is FULL of crap that we can cry about. Get over it or find another job. If you would think about SAFETY, you might understand. I once had a female subordinate during the War in Kuwait. One day she was painting her nails on the J O B. I asked her to put the S--- away and she said something cute. Easy solution. I got up, went over there, politely picked up the bottle, looked at it and slammed it into the trash can. Problem solved!!!! Don't have time to smell fingernail polish when I am worried to death about scud missiles and getting my people out ALIVE. Honey, just look at your manager and say, thank you for making me aware of what may happen to my fingernails. Now you realize that you do not want someone choking on a nasty chicken sandwich and coming up with a nail in their throat!! And anyway, is it that important to look good at work? Another story for ur info. On my job, we can wear whatever. One day I was walking up to someone's porch, tripped and fell directly into the step in front of their door. I was just tall enough to fall evenly with the step. My left ring finger crashed into the step and my FAKE nail jammed down INTO my real nail and my finger was in such horror that once we arrived at the hospital, the ring had to be CUT off and my finger re-aligned. I lost my whole nail area. I told the boss that NO mailman should wear jewelry or fake nails because BOTH are safety hazards.!! How's that for a TRUE story!!