Research undertaken by King’s College London and shared by ACAS showed that the most common reasons why employers have a dress code are:

• “Employees portraying a professional image
• Corporate identity Health and safety
• Common smartness and attractive appearance, both of which promote an appropriate image and help develop good customer relations”

Whatever the reasons for your practice deciding to implement a dress code it is important that your dress code is lawful and not discriminatory contrary to the Equality Act 2010 and the protected characteristics, particularly:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Religion or belief
• Sex, or sexual orientation

What is discriminatory?

The problem is that the legislation does not provide a neat guideline as to what is/is not going to be considered discriminatory and so, currently, this means having to consider case law which is not always straightforward.

For example, case law shows us that it would be unwise for an employer to have a dress code asking women not to wear trousers – see Owen v. Professional Golfers’ Association [2000] (Unreported).

However, ACAS advises employers to “tread cautiously” when it comes to “issues around religious dress” to ensure that any dress code, because caselaw currently appears contradictory. If you are faced with an issue concerning religious dress take legal advice.

A recent dress code issue involved an administrator temp (Nicola Thorp) who took action and rallied public support for legislation against “sexist” dress codes after she had been sent home for refusing to wear 2-4 inch heels. As a result, whilst the government believes the current legislation is “adequate” it has been agreed that there are likely to be some new guidelines regarding dress codes later in 2017.

How can you avoid discrimination in the meantime?

Our top tips for avoiding discrimination with your dress code are:

(1) Understand the potential issues and consider how a dress code might disproportionately impact on individuals or groups of people

(2) Ensure that your dress code is clear and properly explains:

• what the dress code is
• exactly what is expected and
• why a dress code is implemented, citing fair and clear reasons.

For example:

• a code which says “smart appearance” is too vague – it is much better to explain what is/ is not acceptable and
• if jewellery is unacceptable because of health and safety reasons, explain why.

(3) Be transparent about your dress code and explain it to potential employees at the first opportunity (i.e. at the start of the recruitment procedure) and revisit this with regular training.

(4) Get input from staff as you implement a dress code and when you regularly review it, ensuring that you are always prepared to take their feedback into account.

(5) Apply your dress code equally to all staff. This does not mean that dress must be the same for everybody but the code should be imposed to an equal degree.

(6) Work towards ensuring that the practice is committed to diversity and is tolerant and respectful to each individual who works in or visits the practice.