Employers expect women to dress to impress while working from home

A recent survey by a UK Law firm has illuminated some alarming results for many women who are now working from home. While meetings with clients are conducted now on digital platforms, female employees are being asked to dress in order to please potential clients.

Toronto employment lawyer and partner Lior Samfiru at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke with Canadian HR Reporter on what can be expected from employees working remotely and what is inappropriate and unprofessional.

Employers are allowed to have expectations in terms of employee’s attire while conducting meetings. “An employer can ask employees to dress professionally and to have a respectful appearance in the workplace, especially in situations where you’re dealing with clients and customers,” said Samfiru.

However, it is important to note that employers can not distinguish between men and women in terms of their attire. “An employer cannot say, ‘We need the women to wear this clothing and these shoes, but we have different expectations of men’… It’s OK to have a uniform policy saying, ‘This is our uniform’ and that applies to everyone but you cannot distinguish between men and women.”

This is especially important when employers make inappropriate asks of their female employees, Samfiru notes. “You cannot make demands that women dress in a provocative way or in an alluring or sexy way: That is inappropriate. That is a complete and utter breach of the Human Rights Code and human rights legislation in any province.”

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If an employer believes their employee is however dressing in an unprofessional manner, it can be addressed and should be. “The best way to deal with that is to have policies in advance that say, ‘Here’s what appropriate attire looks like in the workplace,’ and what type of clothing is appropriate. If you have a neutral expectation and you talk about professionalism, and ‘Here’s the image that we want to convey as a company,’ that is perfectly appropriate.”