Fight silly battles, that is…
A Morrisons supermarket employee has been suspended for wearing a poppy pin badge and wristband supporting Help For Heroes.
Adam Austin, who works at the Victory Retail Park store in Portsmouth, faces a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.
He received a letter on Monday informing him of his suspension on basic pay for allegedly refusing to obey staff dress standards.
Given that he was given the opportunity to comply with the company dress code, he is bang to rights.
As I’ve mentioned before, employers have a legal right to impose a dress code. I have in the past taken on an employer over their dress code – they wanted me to cut my hair – but in that case, there was no dress code written down, so they lost. And that is the point; if the organisation has a dress policy, it is clearly communicated and evenly applied, then there is no justification to offer when refusing to comply. After all, unlike cutting hair, not wearing a pin at work is no long term hardship as it can be worn outside work. I could not grow my hair back in between working hours. Morrisons, like the other supermarkets, has a uniform that it issues to staff. Unless it is a name badge or a badge associated with the cause du jour that the organisation is supporting, then you cannot wear it and it really isn’t worth making a martyr of oneself over. Sainsbury’s had a similar ban when I was working there – you couldn’t take anything personal onto the shop floor. If it really is that much of a hardship, then look for work with a more relaxed organisation. Taking on Morrisons over this is going to be painful for the individual, for the employers have the law on their side and case law to back it up.
Indeed.
I’d also say that the headline I saw was quite misleading, as I had imagined a shelf stacker or checkout guy wearing a H4H poppy or somesuch. In fact, he is employed in a role which involves spending time in food preparation areas. I imagine that the first time someone dropped a safety pin into a Morrison’s ready meal was the last time that employees were allowed to wear such items on the factory floor – and rightly so.
All true and you’re quite correct, but I bet if the case were about a Muslim woman wearing a hijab or any Muslim refusing to handle alcohol at the checkouts (both are real cases, though not with Morrisons iirc) then the process and the outcome would be very different.
That’s probably why he’s taking it so far.
Oh, I don’t doubt that for one moment. And I deplore the exemptions given to religions. Either a dress code applies – in which case equally to everyone – or it does not. Unfortunately, the religion of peace demands that we respect its misogynistic covering of women – including in the workplace and including uniformed roles. So, yeah, the reek of hypocrisy is noted. However, this guy has chosen the wrong battleground. He will lose – comprehensively.
Wrong. Employers do not have carte blanch to impose a dress code regardless of the circumstances. There must be rational and reasonable reasons for the code. It is not enough to say that it applies to everyone or that the employee should have known about it before he applied. If there are legitimate reasons for prohibiting a poppy pin, such as the risk of its falling into prepared food, then let the employer articulate them.