What should you know about dress codes in the workplace?
The government equalities office published a report on dress codes and sex discrimination in May 2018. The report covers employers’ and employees’ responsibilities on dress codes, making reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and considering the health and safety aspect of implementing changes to dress codes.
Many businesses implement dress codes in the workplace to represent the company’s approach. When doing so, it is important to ensure the standards that are imposed to men and women are both equivalent to avoid sex discrimination. Any less favourable treatment to one sex could be direct discrimination. The report also confirms that it is best to avoid gender specific prescriptive requirements. Employers must keep equalities concerns in mind when implementing dress code policies.
The women and equalities committees and petitions committees produced a report on ‘High heels and workplace dress codes’. It is best practice not to introduce dress code policies relating to aesthetic as these cases are very difficult to justify. As seen in a case with Nicola Thorp who began a petition and gained more than 152,000 signatures after an agency sent her home for failing to wear high heels. This shows how public these cases may go.
If you are looking to impose employees to wear a particular kind of footwear, it is important to take the health and safety aspect in to consideration and whether employees may be at risk of trips or injuries within the workplace.
Some organisations, in particular in the retail sector, employees may be required to wear a company branded work shirt and this may be acceptable as long as the employee who pays for this does not breach the minimum wage as seen in a case with Primark in 2017. It is best practice for employers to discuss the dress code informally prior to making any changes. This will enable employees to bring their concerns and raise any questions first. It is important to deal with issues on a case-by-case basis and take into account the employees’ concerns.
It is critical employers are reasonable and act in a non-discriminatory manner. In particularly, when dealing with transgender or non-binary employees. Employees who may fall under this category must be provided with an option to match them to their gender identity.
What about dress codes and disabled employees?
Employers are required to make reasonable adjustments to employees who are disabled and this may put a disabled employee at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to employees who are not disabled.
Employers must ensure that they have an equal opportunities policy in place where they do not discriminate employees based on the protected characteristics. In relation to religion, employees may have to wear a particular dress code due to religious reasons and therefore, employers must be flexible when implementing dress code policies and must ensure they do not prohibit religious symbols that do not impact on the employees’ work.
Are you looking to make a change to your dress code?
Recent research suggests that two-thirds of workers enjoy following a dress code as seen in a survey by CV Library. Employees who follow a dress code alleviates concerns around what to wear on a morning and whether their clothing may be deemed as being on the ‘borderline’. Having a dress code can work in an employee’s and employer’s favour. As mentioned previously, discussing and being open with your employees will only result in an engaged workforce. Therefore, if you are looking to make changes, please ensure you are open and transparent in the reasons for making the change.
Don't wait until your employee takes you to an Employment Tribunal, contact us and speak to our HR Advisors for further guidance on how to implement a change.
