Dress codes

Case 13: The facts

Matthew Thompson works for the Department for Work and Pensions in the Jobcentre Plus section. Even though he has no frontline duties his employer's dress code required him to wear a collar and tie. Thompson believed that this was discriminatory since women did not have specific items of clothing specified, so long as they were smartly dressed. An employment tribunal accepted his claim and awarded £1,000 in compensation. His employers appealed to the EAT, aware of the fact that there were nearly 7,000 identical claims in the pipeline.

The ruling

The EAT accepted the employers' arguments and held the mere fact that only men had to wear collars and ties, of itself was not discriminatory since the dress code also required that staff dress "in a professional and business-like way". The case has now been sent back to an employment tribunal which will rule on whether the requirement for men to wear a collar and tie was necessary to achieve the level of smartness which the employer required of its staff. In other words provided the tribunal accepts that collars and ties are a measure of a smartly and professionally dressed male employee there will be no grounds for a discrimination claim.

* Department for Work and Pensions v Matthew Thompson EAT/0254/03