Most businesses will enforce some kind of dress code policy but for both employers and employees it can be hard to determine their rights. This makes it difficult to know when something can or cannot be included in a dress code.

Dress Code discrimination has been hitting headlines recently with MP’s calling for fines to be brought against firms for sexist dress codes. It is more important than ever that employers understand where the law stands when it comes to dress code and how they can protect their employees. Here’s what the law says:

Clearly our right to express ourselves, within reason, is protected by law. The difficult thing is often defining what ‘within reason’ actually means. Employers need to understand what these laws mean in every day terms for their business.   

Dress codes need to be reasonable and in line with the type of business. The key to making sure a dress policy is fair is to be consistent but allow flexibility on a case by case basis. For example, employers can ask staff to be presentable and this might include being clean shaven, but in some cases beards can have cultural or religious significance, so this would need to be taken case by case.

It is important that dress codes do not disadvantage employees of a particular gender, culture or religion as this could be viewed as discrimination. There have been many high profile cases of discrimination on the basis of gender. Employers are entitled to apply separate dress codes for men and women, however the law stipulates that this should never place a greater burden on one gender compared to the other.

What can and cannot be included in a dress code is a very complex issue but this guide should provide a good starting point.