”Here’s your free education, which you (a) won't understand and (b) could have looked up yourself.”
Ooh thanks. Love being patronised.
”Any dress code must form part of the employee's terms and conditions of employment.”
Wrong. There is no legislation saying that a dress code has to be contractual. Plenty of employers have dress codes (and myriad other rules and guidelines) which aren’t contractual.
”Any dress code must be justifiable, legal, reasonable and non-discriminatory. There must be a legitimate aim to it and it must be and the dress code requirement must be necessary to achieve that aim.”
No. It has to not be discriminatory. If it is potentially discriminatory, then it has to be justifiable, etc etc. But if it’s not discriminatory, there’s no need to be able to demonstrate a legitimate aim etc.
“I don't see how an employer could prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the wearing of a Hobbs dress or a skirt and top (as long as decent) transgressed a reasonable dress code for a legitimate aim.”
Assuming no discrimination, what claim would the employee be making which would require a tribunal to rule on whether a Hobbs dress met a dress code or not? How on earth would that ever end up in front of a tribunal?
”Dress codes for men and women don't have to be the same but they must be equivalent.” Um. Thanks for that. I was asking for justification for saying employers aren’t allowed to impose dress codes other than in the event it’s discriminatory. Strange how this hasn't been forthcoming...
”Employers cannot go around dictating what women wear because they do not like their choice of reasonable clothing.” Can they “go around” dictating what men wear? As long as they dictate what everyone wears, to a similar degree, of course they can! You may not like what they are ‘dictating’, but as long as there is no discrimination, they can do it.
”The requirement must appear in the dress code so as to form part of the contract of employment and even then, it must be a reasonable, non-discriminatory requirement.”
Again, why do you think a dress requirement must be contractual? Managers make all sorts of requests, requirements, instructions that aren’t contractual. Otherwise everyone’s contract would be the length of the bible.
”The unilateral comments towards the OP are so potentially indirectly discriminatory on grounds of sex that the employer is treading very dangerous territory.”
Ah you obviously know far more about the OP’s workplace than the rest of us. Personally I have absolutely no idea what the employer requires of men so I wouldn’t dream of just assuming there is discrimination involved.
”The choice of clothing is clearly suitable for the given workplace and its difficult to think how the employer could justify such objective, appearance based comments to a female employee.”
Why are just you assuming they wouldn’t make a similar request of a man? All she’s been told is to dress a bit more casually! That’s it! This isn't having to wear heels on reception at PwC!
” FWIW Flowery you are approaching this from the wrong angle. It is not up to the OP to prove the employer's comments to her wrong, it is up to the employer to justify them in law.”
No. An employer doesn’t have to provide legal justification for any instruction they give! How ridiculous would that be? I wasn’t asking about discrimination, but if the OP felt this might be discrimination, she’d have to show that the requirement might have been discriminatory and the employer would have to then show otherwise.
But in general, if the OP felt her employer’s action broke whatever mystical law it is you seem to think states an employer can’t impose a dress code, she’d have to be able to identify which law had actually been broken.
”If the OP then were to suffer a detriment in her employment as a result of this arbitrary requirement, that would constitute unlawful victimisation under the Equality Act.”
No. Only if the requirement was discriminatory. If it wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be ‘victimisation’.
”You are also confusing the law not being applied correctly with the law itself.”
Silly me, getting all confused. I’d better seek an immediate career change eh? But before I do, I won’t waste my time researching what mythical piece of legislation governs dress codes (other than the Equality Act), because I know it doesn’t exist….