He sought to beat the heat; he ended up beating the dress code
Amidst an intense heatwave in the UK, a British man who sought to beat the heat was sent home from work after he decided to come in wearing shorts. He ended up beating his company’s dress code.
On Monday, call centre employee Joey Barge posted a photo of himself on Twitter wearing shorts – he said that if women can wear skirts or dresses to work, then maybe shorts should be passable. Not surprisingly, he was sent home less than an hour later to change into appropriate work attire.
But instead of donning trousers, he decided to return to the office in a bright pink dress.
Barge thought he would be immediately sent home. But the company changed its policy instead, and allowed men to wear ¾ length shorts in the office, in light of the “extremely warm temperatures.”
“They said it was a bit too colourful and asked if I wanted to go home and change because they were letting us wear shorts because of my ‘protest’ – but I said I was happy to stay,” the 20-year old told the Daily Mail.
A trade union body has recently called on employers to relax dress codes amidst the heat wave, so that staff can work as comfortably as possible.
“While many of us will welcome the sunshine and warm temperatures this week, working in sweltering conditions can be unbearable and dangerous,” said Trades Union Congress General Secretary Frances O’Grady. “Obviously shorts and flip flops won’t be the right attire for all workers, but no one should be made to suffer unnecessarily in the heat for the sake of appearances.”
The TUC is seeking a change in the law to introduce a new maximum indoor temperature, set at 30°C – or 27°C for those doing strenuous jobs – with employers obliged to adopt cooling measures when the workplace temperature hits 24°C.
