"A code which applies a conventional standard of appearance is not in and of itself discriminatory"
In the case of Danise v The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) held that asking a male employee to cut his shoulder length hair did NOT amount to discrimination or harassment under the Sex Discrimination Act.
Mr Danise was training as a police constable at the Hendon training Centre. He was told that he would need to cut his hair and was threatened with disciplinary action in the event that he did not do so.
The EAT held that it was necessary to test whether, when applying contemporary standards together with the specific needs of the particular profession, the employer's dress code required an equivalent level of smartness between both male and female workers.
Whilst a female employee would not have been made to cut her hair in similar circumstances, the EAT found that a difference in treatment between the sexes on one particular aspect of the Dress Code is not necessarily more favourable treatment of a member of one sex compared with a member of the other sex.
It was confirmed that it would be necessary to consider the Dress Code as a whole, even though a single provision of the Code may upset the balance of treating the sexes equally.
The EAT held that a Code which applies a conventional standard of appearance is not in and of itself discriminatory, looking at the Code as a whole, neither sex must be treated less favourably as a result of its enforcement.
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