Some organisations are known to be rigid about their dress code, but a British recruitment agency, Maximus UK Services went a bit too far and ended up losing about Rs 30 lakh in compensation to an employee.
Elizabeth Benassi, a young employee of the recruitment firm, who was unaware of the company’s dress code, turned up for work wearing sports shoes. She was terminated soon after following which Benassi approached an employment tribunal seeking justice.
According to Benassi, she was the only one accused of breaching the dress code while many others also wore similar footwear but were not checked. She alleged that she was hauled up simply because she was the youngest in the workforce—18 at the time—and was treated like a kid by her manager, who picked on her for small things.
The tribunal ruled in favour of Benassi and asked her employer to pay her about Rs 30 lakh in compensation for micromanaging her and discriminating against her on the basis of her age.
Maximus UK Services, of course, maintained that it had not been unfair to Benassi in any way, but the Croydon tribunal ruled that it had targeted her because she was the youngest. As per the tribunal, the company should have taken into account the fact that she was a new entrant and may not have been aware of a dress code. Termination just few months after her joining was an extreme step for such an oversight.
