Tie case throws dress codes into confusion

The collar and tie faces an uncertain future in the office. Willie Manners and Juliet McMyn look at the implications of a recent tribunal ruling. Last week's ruling that a man who worked in a Job Centre was a victim of sex discrimination because he was made to wear a collar and tie has been seen variously as a "victory for common sense" and the death of the traditional white-collar male dress code.

Matthew Thompson, an employee in a job Centre at Stockport, objected to the "smart casual" dress code imposed by the Department for Work and Pensions because it required men to wear a collar and tie but made no similar clothing requirements for women. The code, which banned employees from wearing fleeces without management consent, was at first assumed to be a joke. But when Thompson was disciplined for refusing to wear a tie, it all became less amusing.

Thompson′s real complaint was that dress standards did not apply equally between the sexes. While men had to wear a tie, women were allowed to wear T-shirts or even football shirts to work. Thompson claimed that the males were victims of "gender stereotyping" and that the dress code was discriminatory. The tribunal agreed. But its ruling, which may go to appeal, is surprising. It appears to be in direct contrast to the previous view that an employer could impose different dress codes on the sexes as long as the rules were enforced equally; it certainly paves the way for other employees who dislike formal dress to bring the similar.

We may, for instance, hear from Dennis Fitzpatrick of Birmingham, another Job Centre employee, who was banned from wearing jeans to work. He recently reported for duty in a kilt, lumberjack shirt and a loud multicolored tie. Of his employers, he said: "They seemed happy for me to go to work like this, even though I looked like a pillock (slang: a stupid person).

At the hearing on Thompson's case, the panel was invited by his employer to consider the meaning of the term ‘smart casual" and, in particular, what kind of clothing would be considered acceptable in an office. For men, smart trousers with a collar and tie were suggested. For women, skirts, dresses, trousers and fitted or loose tops. From such analysis it is clear that while society's ideas of acceptable clothing for a man have remained fairly constant, its views on dress codes for women have changed radically.

Oxford University Press, 2010

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