Your boss decides to institute a dress code. Maybe they give you a uniform that you have to wear every time you come into work. Maybe they just tell you a certain type of attire that is required, such as business casual. Long gone are the days when everyone would wear a suit to the office, but your boss can still institute a dress code if they would like.
In and of itself, this dress code is not discriminatory. But there are some issues that could make it run afoul of the law, depending on how it has been set up. First and foremost, the dress code cannot discriminate against groups of workers based on the protected characteristics they share.
For instance, your boss cannot institute a dress code for female workers without putting one in place for male workers. They also can’t insist on a much more burdensome one for women than for men. If they do, then it is a form of gender discrimination. Female workers are being treated differently from male workers only because of their gender.
Unintended impacts
It is also important to understand that there may even be an unintended impact from the dress code that means it affects a specific group of workers differently than others, even if it is not explicitly designed to do so.
For example, say that 10 percent of the workforce follows a certain religion where wearing a specific type of jewelry is important to them. In response, your boss institutes a “no-jewelry” dress code. Even though this technically means that all workers are not allowed to wear jewelry, it may be inadvertently targeting workers based on their religious affiliation, while not affecting other workers who were not wearing that jewelry to begin with.
Are you facing discrimination?
The above are red flags to look for that may indicate a dress code is discriminatory. If you are experiencing discrimination on the job, you must know what legal steps to take.