Dress codes

Obliging men to wear ties is not automatically a breach of sex discrimination law.

A high-profile tribunal case last year had held that making only men wear ties at work was discriminatory, but the Employment Appeal Tribunal has now ruled that the tribunal was wrong.

Provided that dress codes cover both sexes and that both have to meet a specific level of "smartness", the fact that the code imposes a requirement to wear a tie on men only does not mean that there has been discrimination.

Matthew Thompson, who works for Jobcentre Plus, was the original applicant at the employment tribunal, which had awarded him £1,000 in compensation.

When the case came to appeal there were nearly 7,000 more claims outstanding at employment tribunals that had been lodged by other Jobcentre employees. If the EAT had upheld the tribunal ruling it could have cost the government nearly £7 million.

The case will now go back to an employment tribunal for a decision as to whether a collar and tie is necessary to achieve a level of smartness. If so, the outstanding claims will fall.