Julie's Question

My sister sent me a question asking if it was ok for a company she knows to require its female employees to wear a heel of at least 1-2 inches at trade shows. She says the women are all young and "take care of themselves." She said that the company has on line of clothing and when they display that line, the presenters have to wear spiked high black boots that the company bought them for them at $450 a pop. She asks, "is it against the law to force them to wear specific shoes?"

I responded:

The short answer is, no. An employer is allowed to have a dress code. If the dress code is revealing in nature, then it depends on whether it goes to the core of the employment. For example, Hooters can make its employees wear revealing clothing becuase its part of the job, but Goldman Sacks would not be permitted to require the same uniform.

So, can this guy make his female employees wear high heel shoes? Probably. But it sounds to me like this is just one piece of evidence in a claim against the company for age discrimination. If an employer makes employment decisions based not on qualifications but, rather on youth, then that's age discrimination and is against the law. Sure he can have good looking presenters at his show, but he can't make decisions about how a person will perform based on factors that have nothing to do with performance. He certainly would not be allowed to say he wants only white employees, or that an employee could be fired if she becomes pregnant. First, you need to establish that there's been some kind of injury to a particular employee, such as a termination, and then establish that the adverse employment action was taken as a result of discrimination.

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This was more information then she needed to know. Thanks, Jul!