Introducing rules on dress in the workplace
The recent story involving the instruction given to a female agency worker that she should get herself a pair of high heels if she wanted to stay in her role, continues to run and run. But is this fair, what are the rules when it comes to dress in the workplace?
Even the Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, has now given his views on the situation, following the high volume of signatories to the online petition on the Government’s website. The petition was set up by Nicola Thorp, the lady who found herself being sent home by the employer on her latest agency placement for refusing to buy and wear a pair of high heels all day at work.
Ms. Thorp arrived at her temporary placement at a London office of Price Waterhouse Coopers, the accountancy firm, wearing a pair of flat black shoes. In her subsequent press interviews, she confirmed that she was told to go home without pay unless she purchased a different pair of shoes with heels that were between two and four inches high and wore them all day.
She refused to comply with this instruction and alleges that Portico, the firm that operates the reception services for Price Waterhouse Coopers, did in fact send her home for this reason.
Dress and appearance are both subjects upon which employers are able to set standards for their employees to attain. The image and reputation of your business are always going to be important considerations and a set of rules and a clear policy statement are both recommended to avoid any uncertainty in relation to your expectations in this area.
It is usual to have an Employee Handbook, which contains company rules, including a policy regarding dress and appearance.
The Employee Handbook should be thoroughly explained to all employees and should be included when planning an induction programme. If you do introduce and implement rules on dress and appearance, including in relation to footwear, make sure that they:
- Are non-discriminatory in their content and application.
- Are reasonable in principle.
- Are applied consistently across the organisation.
- Can be justified for sound business reasons.
- Are sensitively discussed with any employees who may breach the rules.
- Are taken seriously, particularly if any complaints are received concerning an individual employee.
- Are discussed initially with the purpose of giving employees a period of grace to change their dress or appearance before any disciplinary action is taken.
- Are dealt with immediately if there is any health and safety risk attached to the particular issue, e.g. long hair being worn near to machinery.
- Make clear that a persistent refusal to comply with reasonable requests to alter dress and/or appearance can ultimately lead to dismissal.
It must be said that the current topical question as to whether a female employee should be told that she MUST wear heels at work has been unequivocally answered in a number of quarters.
Saijid Javid has tweeted: ‘No woman should be forced to wear high heels. Responsible employers shouldn’t need the law to tell them that.’
The petition calling for a legal ban on forcing women to wear high heels at work reached 135,000 signatories in less than a week. It has therefore easily passed the 100,000-signature mark, the point at which it must be considered for a debate in Parliament.
An executive board member and Head of People at Price Waterhouse Coopers said: ‘We have learnt the hard way that it is critical that the employment policies and values of our supply chain reflect our own. We are reviewing our suppliers’ employment policies in detail as a result.’
Finally, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Portico have announced ‘With immediate effect, all our female colleagues can wear plain flat shoes.’
Recent case law has once again emphasised the importance of balancing the reasonableness of a request to an employee to alter their dress or appearance, with the genuine impact of the situation on the image or performance of the business.
Employers will always be required to point to objective business reasons to support the request being made, if allegations of discrimination, both direct and indirect, are to be avoided.
If you have any current issues on the subject or require an effective policy on dress and appearance within your organisation, contact us now.
