If your employer announces that they’re going to use a dress code, they’re certainly allowed to do so. Many stores and other businesses have dress codes that employees have to follow every day. Some are more strict than others, but employees are obligated to do as the employer says.
Employees do sometimes feel like this is a violation of their rights. It often is not, but there are ways that this can happen.
Is the dress code biased?
The big question to ask is whether or not there’s any bias in the dress code which means it targets a group of people in a specific way. If the dress code doesn’t discriminate, then it is not a violation of anyone’s rights. It just equally applies to all employees to create the type of atmosphere that the business owner wants.
However, if the dress code does discriminate by applying to a certain group of people in a way that it doesn’t to another, that could be a violation of that group’s rights. An example of this would be if workers from a certain religion tend to wear religious attire. If the dress code is clearly just banning religious attire, then that is an example of religious discrimination. This is true even though the workers who do not practice that religion are also being told to follow the code. It doesn’t impact them the same way it impacts everyone else.
If something like this happens to you, be sure that you understand all of your rights and the legal options that you have. No one deserves to be discriminated against on the job.