Employer tells woman to shave her legs.

[HelenaDove]

For hygiene reasons apparently. Yet again female leg hair is somehow dirtier then mens.

metro.co.uk/2019/08/24/young-woman-says-she-was-told-to-shave-her-legs-by-boss-to-meet-hygiene-standards-10620685/

Outrageous.

For fucks sake. This is illegal.

I bet HR nearly had a coronary.

I can be bolshi, so I'd have said But I did them this morning

How does anyone get to be a supervisor or above without knowing this kind of really basic stuff?

TheInebriati it's amazing isn't it. I knew a woman who got a managers job and she was telling me about some people she had just interviewed. I didn't think any of her questions were acceptable

Good for her for standing up for herself but I hope she does take it to HR, this shit shouldn’t be just let go, this manager needs at the very least some kind of reprimand, further training and to be given a written warning. This is not acceptable.

Sounds like he crumbled when she queried it. A conversation that should have never started.

If hygiene is the concern then men need to start shaving their hairy arses.

Shocking stuff.

For fucks sake. This is illegal.

In the UK, yes.

However, this story is lifted from Reddit and it isn't clear to me that it is from the UK. Nor am I sure it is illegal elsewhere. I was under the impression that in the US 'at will' employees can be fired for pretty much any petty whim of their employer, though I'd be delighted to learn that isn't the case.

I can’t understand the ‘hygiene reasons’. What job can she possibly be doing that this would be an issue? Wine treading?

I wonder if they could get away with this by saying it's the dress code or not? As a bloke I had to keep my facial hair well groomed when I worked in an office, which was part of the reason I ended up training in a technical subject - I'm still 'well groomed' but would've never been allowed my current beard in my former sales role.

I live in the USA, ‘At will’ in some states does indeed mean you can be let go for no reason - sounds lovely for employers right? Well, it’s not quite as simple as that in reality. Reality means people still have rights, there are protected characteristics just like in the UK and they can and will take a complaint to the labor board if they feel that they were let go because of bias, discrimination, whistleblowing, bullying, harassment, not being allowed to take breaks, being pregnant etc. A woman being told to shave her legs would come under that too. HR where I work would have a fucking meltdown st the potential for being sued in that and the manager would risk being fired. Employers have to be very very careful when letting people go for no reason because if it can be proved at a labor board that there actually was a reason, as is often the case, they will be in an expensive amount of trouble. It’s actually better if employers can let someone go for cause - poor performance, dishonesty etc - than for no cause.

As always with this question, we ought to be asking whether the women who work in that place have the privilege (privi-leg, ha ha) of going around with bare legs when the men are required to wear long trousers. If that's the case, maybe it's fair if there are limits to women's extra freedom, as in "Female employees may wear skirts without stockings, but must not allow leg hair to be visible." When your legs are covered, nobody will know or care who shaves and who doesn't. Put them on show, and some people might make it an issue.

But hygiene, no, it's nothing to do with that. Social conformity (for woman and men) is what it's about.

"Female employees may wear skirts without stockings, but must not allow leg hair to be visible."

I mean this policy is more easily made gender neutral. I don’t see why guys shouldn’t be able to shave and wear shorts/skirt if the women can do so.

"Employer tells woman to shave her legs."

Woman tells employer to fuck off or she will sue him for sex discrimination!

I wonder where this stands legally. I've definitely seen policies around 'smart appearance' that dictate men's facial hair - e.g. 'must be clean shaven or have well groomed facial hair'. I remember a friend had to grow a beard in his own time as best beards were acceptable but stubble wasn't allowed.

'Neat beards' not 'best beards'.

The difference is that it is (almost) only men who grow beards, so it’s reasonable that dress code would only address that to them. Both men and women grow leg hair, so it’s discriminatory to tell women to shave it but not men. If women routinely grew beards they would also be expected to keep them neat.

Both men and women grow leg hair, so it’s discriminatory to tell women to shave it but not men.

Most workplaces don't allow men to display their legs though, so is that not also discriminatory in it's own right?

Women are definitely granted more freedom in the things they can wear at work. I've wished many a time I didn't have to wear trousers, long sleeved shirt and a tie when stuck in a stuffy office in the summer surrounded by female colleagues in light summery dresses.

Most workplaces don't allow men to display their legs though, so is that not also discriminatory in it's own right?

A lot of young men around here seem to favour 7/8 work trousers without socks. Will they be required to shave their ankles?

ShortCircuit - nothing to stop you going down the Pips/Philip Bunce route and embracing gender fluidity. In the spirit of openness, I feel duty bound to mention that tights/stockings - however sheer - are sweltering in warm weather. Trousers are much airier.

Yeah, I think ties are stupid.

ARE shorts actually not allowed for men or is it just that it would be unconventional? No one been brave enough yet? Men in my office wear shorts ( and socks with sandals) . But it is tech.