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When officials of Claim Jumper LLC established a no-bracelets policy for servers last December, the 34-unit casual-dining chain had no idea it would end up on the nightly news as a result.

The company’s goal was to prohibit the wearing of the colorful, silicone bracelets that are the latest cause-related fad nationwide, though Claim Jumper had cited safety and sanitation concerns as its reasons for the ban.

The bracelets, which resemble thick rubber bands, typically are embossed with words or phrases, often promoting charities. But some include potentially offensive messages – such as “F*** Bush,” anti-war sentiments or boasts of sexual achievement – and guests were complaining, officials of the Irvine-based chain explained.

Earlier this month, however, former bartender Brian McKillip threatened to stage a protest at a Claim Jumper in Roseville, Calif., saying he was unfairly terminated from his job there because he refused to remove his band with the phrase “LiveStrong,” which he bought to benefit a cancer-related charity.

The resulting negative publicity came at a bad time. Earlier this year Claim Jumper had begun exploring the possibility of a sale of the company or its first public stock offering to fuel Midwestern expansion of its exceptionally high-grossing dining concept.

Concerned that the company might be perceived as unsupportive of anti-cancer causes, officials modified the policy to allow servers to wear one cause-related bracelet on each wrist. A rule that the bands be washed regularly retained the caution about sanitation.

Sanitizing of another sort also was required, with only certain approved messages being allowed.

Attorneys, however, say the company may be stepping into a legal minefield by allowing some bracelets and not others, especially in Claim Jumper’s home market of California, where servers claiming to be expressing religious beliefs or gender identity might argue that those are protected rights.

At issue are the multicolored bands made popular in large part by bicycle racing champion silver bangles and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, who wore a “LiveStrong” band during last year’s Tour de France.

Nike began selling the bracelets for $1 each to raise money for the nonprofit Lance Armstrong Foundation’s efforts to support cancer research and awareness. Their popularity spawned a wave of knock-off bracelets, some sold as fund-raisers, with messages ranging from support of sports teams to benign phrases such as “Drama Queen” to more controversial slogans.

Craig Nickoloff, who is founder, president and chief executive of gold-rushtheme Claim Jumper, said the more controversial bracelets were the ones that drew customer complaints.

“We’ve had a situation where we had employees wearing more than one bracelet with offensive messages, like ‘F*** Bush,’ anti-war [sentiments] and all kinds of statements that were offensive to many, many of our guests,” he said. “I don’t think you want to be waited on by someone who has the ‘F’ word on his wrist every time they refill your iced tea.”

The company, feeling a need to address the issue “with a broad brush,” banned bracelets altogether, Nickoloff explained.

The concerns about safety and sanitation were real, according to Robert Ott, the company’s chief operating officer. Claim Jumper has prohibited the wearing of jewelry by back-of-the-house staff for 15 years for safety reasons.

Nickoloff said he could not discuss the details of McKillip’s termination, but he said the bartender’s refusal to remove his bracelet was only part of the reason. “There were other issues,” he said.

McKillip, 29, said he began wearing the bracelet last June after his stepfather was diagnosed with cancer. Other family members also had cancer, and the bracelet represented his support for those loved ones, he said, adding that the nobracelet policy initially had been only loosely enforced.

After McKillip announced plans to stage a protest at the restaurant, however. Claim Jumper officials were forced to rethink the issue.

Their policy modification to allow one cause-related bracelet per wrist required that messages be those of a qualified, national, health-related charity. The rule said bracelets must fit snugly and must be washed whenever hands are washed. Claim Jumper also pledged $10,000 to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and agreed to sponsor both McKillip and his stepfather for $10,000 each in an American Cancer Society fund-raising event in June.

The protest was canceled, and McKillip asked that he not be rehired. “He just wanted a change in the policy and an apology,” Ott said. “I did both.”

Nickoloff, a cancer survivor himself who has lost family members to the illness, said he was particularly hurt by the implication that Claim Jumper was insensitive to cancer-related concerns, noting that the company long has been a quiet supporter of cancer-related organizations.

In a statement Claim Jumper officials said McKillip “made us aware that there can be very deep and personal emotions behind the bracelets.”

Legal experts, however, wonder whether Claim Jumper’s policy might be risky. Employers tiffany jewelry generally have leeway to establish dress codes that control an employee’s image to the public, and many companies prohibit the wearing of T-shirts with inappropriate logos or statements, explained labor law specialist Carolyn Richmond, an attorney with Seyfarth Shaw LLP in New York.

The problem may be in allowing some bracelets but not others, she said. “I don’t think picking and choosing – saying certain charities are OK – is a wise operational decision,” Richmond said. “It opens a Pandora’s box.There are going to be employees that have other causes you may not like or support.”

Michelle La Mar, an attorney specializing in labor and employment law in Los Angeles, said some states, like California, have laws protecting employees under certain classifications, such as the expression of religious beliefs or gender identity.

Followers of the Kabbalah movement wear a certain kind of bracelet, for example, and an employer may not have the right to insist such jewelry be removed.

Employees wearing bracelets stating, “I’m gay and I’m proud” arguably might also be protected, though they would be on shakier ground, noted La Mar, because gender-related expressions are not as closely guarded by the courts as are religious ones. Moreover, “a health and safety issue” can be invoked to limit any expression, she said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that restaurants prohibit the wearing of jewelry, including medical information, on food preparers’ arms and hands, with the exception of a plain ring. But California’s food code is silent on the issue of bracelets, and local health departments vary in prohibiting jewelry.

Ott said Claim Jumper’s thinking on the issue is evolving. “We’re still looking at the direction we want to take and the legal ramifications,” he said. “We’ll have to look at it one bracelet at a time.”