What the fuck is the world coming to?
This fuckstick claims that his feelings were hurt because his employers made him wear a tie at work. He is claiming sexual discrimination, and he says that his human rights have been violated.
If he wins this case, does this clear the way for the other 200 million shmoes like me to sue the fuck out of their boss? How much compensation can I expect for my hurt feelings? I fucking despair of humanity sometimes.
Ok, I can understand being a litle miffed about the inequality of dress-code strictness, but cut me a break. What an idiot.
I’m just glad to see other countries have stupid lawsuits for a change.
Um, I think this is more to the point:
In other words, he’s not complaining about having to wear a tie; he’s complaining that he has to wear a tie when the women are not expected to conform to such a standard of formality.
In principle I agree with him, if only for the reason that almost by definition, a dress code is more restrictive on men than women. In the absence of a dress code cultural norms provide women with vastly more options than men have as to dress–they can wear dresses, skirts, suits, jeans, sleeveless or sleeved tops, any length of shorts, etc., etc. Men are pretty much limited to pants and shirts, so if they say you have to wear a suit and/or a tie as well, I think it is a lot harder on the men.
Not that I think that’s necessarily a valid legal principle. Presumably by the very statement I made above, the employer could contend that the greater restriction on men stems not from their dress code, but from societal norms.
Yes, I can see your point Matt, but to then claim hurt feelings and sexual discrimination, to me it stinks. You have to wear a tie to work? Then you wear it! It’s not like their asking him to wear a clown costume with big comedy feet or something.
I work in an office where I have to wear a tie. Some people in other departments don’t wear ties. I don’t try to sue my boss for hurt feelings.
Oh, and at the heart of the matter is greed. You can bet he’ll be seeking a few million pounds compensation for his “hurt feelings”. What next? Maybe I can sue for hurt feelings, because my boss told me to do something and forgot to say “please”.
Samarm:
It’s not?
::considers the necktie::
::considers the big comedy feet::
Definitely equally ridiculous and silly-looking.
While i think the lawsuit is silly and possibly motivated by greed, i take his point regarding the inequity of the dress codes. If women are wearing t-shirts with logos and football tops to work, it hardly seems fair to make the guys wear a tie.
By the way, just to show that this works both ways, i would also have a problem if (as has been known to happen) women in a similar situation were being told that they had to wear skirts (rather than trousers/pants) and high heels (rather than dressy flat shoes).
I actually don’t mind a tie…it’s slacks I hate. Any slacks. Mostly because I haven’t been able to find a pair that fits in years.
Realizing that this is more of an IMHO question than a BBQ one, your situation does seem damned unfair. Why don’t the men in other departments have to wear ties? What kind of a company is it?
Whoa! just passed my Double Millenium Mark! 2000 posts! Woo-hoo!
It’s the offices of a retail company. We have to wear company regulation shirt and tie because we deal with customers face to face. Some other departments have a more lax dress code because they are more “back office”.
The point about the OP was that it pissed me off that people can sue on the flimsiest of principles. It’s getting so that you can’t take a shit without fear of someone suing you for “hurt feelings” because you stank the bathroom up. Ah fuck it, the GD thread looks like a healthier debate anyway.
If a mod happens by this thread, they could close it as it’s kind of redundant, I guess. Thanks.
That’s a common argument in favor of the dress code, but I think just as many companies just require the same for everyone across the board.
I worked at one company, a plumbing supply wholesaler, where the principle was pretty much turned on its head. Those who worked at the retail outlets wore pretty much anything they pleased other than open toed sandals or shorts, for safety reasons. The culture of the corporate back office was much more formal. They never actually came out and said the rank-and-file had to wear ties, but the managers did. And they banned jeans after I had been there several years. It seems like if the article your company deals in is blue-collar in its nature, the back office honchos tend to want their staff to dress up more, to distinguish themselves from the people who actually handle and sell the stock.
Suits and jacket-and-tie combos used to be the mark of the upper class, but in the L.A. area that’s pretty much turned on its head as well. The streets of Beverly Hills on any Saturday are full of well-heeled, denim clad shoppers who have just left stores staffed by low paid, suit wearing workers. The tellers at the bank are almost invariably more formally dressed than the customers queing up to do business with them. I understand why some people advocate a professional, businesslike appearance. It’s also useful for customers to be able to identify at a glance the people who work in a store. But sometimes requiring public contact employees to dress up as if they’re in Sunday school seems unfair. There are other ways store staff can be made to stand out … it’s a tough job they have; why make it harder?
OK, first an foremost he most certainly would not get millions for “hurt feelings”. In the UK we do not have punitive damages. If you can’t show actual loss, you ain’t getting a bean.
Secondly - and rendering my first point irrelevant anyway - I didn’t think that he was suing his employer (the government). I thought that he was bringing a test case to force them to change their rules. Of course I could be wrong on this.
Our legal system works very, very differently to yours. I’d beware of drawing too many comparisons.
pan
That’d be so cool. I think I’ll change the company’s dress code.
If so, I want a job.
You’ll need experience of either Oracle, XML, Linux or custard pie throwing.
I can do one of those. And I have a honky nose and comedy car too.
I must be a shoe in. Especially with these shoes…