Dress codes at work

Employers can set reasonable dress requirements for their staff.

You can be required to wear a uniform, or to dress in a particular way, e.g. waiting staff in a café might be asked to wear a white shirt and black trousers. Or you can be required to meet a general standard, without being specifically told what to wear. For instance, ‘clean and tidy business wear’ could be a requirement for an office job.

Employers can also set requirements such as taking out face jewellery, covering tattoos or body piercings, or tying back long hair.

You can also be required to wear protective clothing where necessary, such as a hard hat on a building site or a reflective jacket if working on a road. Employers are responsible to see that health regulations are met, so staff might have to wear hair nets and gloves in a food-preparation business, for example.

An employer can’t:

• make you stop wearing religious dress or adornments, unless they create a safety risk

or

• require a person of chosen gender to dress opposite to their chosen gender.

Consider this...