University of Tasmania human resources lecturer Simon Fishwick said while many people he worked with had tattoos, some with highly visible tattoos could find it difficult to get jobs.

Tasmania last week introduced new laws that made it illegal for people under the age of 18 to be tattooed or receive intimate piercings. "We are all prejudiced and people are prone to make assumptions," Dr Fishwick said.

"Secondly, when you are selecting for a role, and you have 40 applicants, you are looking for easy ways to exclude people.

"And it can be tempting to use something like a tattoo as a blunt instrument to weed people out."

He said the laws would stop people from getting a tattoo or piercing that may later regret.

Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Robin Banks said tattoos were not covered under the state's Anti-Discrimination Act 1998.

Ms Banks said the commission received "a few calls" about people claiming they were not hired because they had several visible tattoos.

She said the only people who could be covered under the act were people with cultural tattoos, which may come under race protection.

The new laws bring Tasmania into line with the other states and resulted from a review by the Department of Police and Emergency Management in 2011.

Operators in breach of the laws face a year's imprisonment or a $14,000 fine.