Posted: Wednesday 3 August 2011
Christian Midwife Claimed Order To Wear Trousers Discriminatory
I heard this interesting case mentioned on Sky News this morning with reference to an article in the Daily Telegraph – Christian Midwife Sues Over Order To Wear Trousers.
The gist of the story is that a Christian midwife, Hannah Adewole, claimed that an order by the hospital that she worked for to wear scrub trousers in a hospital’s operating theatre amounted to discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief.
To support this she made reference to the Bible and the Book of Deuteronomy 22:5 which states: “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing for the Lord your God detests anyone who does.”
The hospital’s position was that it was necessary for her to wear scrub trousers to prevent infection.
Despite the headline, the article in the Daily Telegraph seems to suggest at the very end that Ms. Adewole has lost her claim and that the Tribunal decided that the uniform policy did not disadvantage Christians but rather was “legitimate and proportionate for infection control.”
Although the employer appears to have won the case on this occasion it does serve as a reminder as to the sort of issues that dress codes can throw up and it is important that careful consideration is given to these issues when putting together a dress code to avoid a claim.
One issue that does arise from time to time, which wasn’t a factor in Ms. Adewole’s case, is the fact that sometimes dress codes treat males and females differently. My previous blog – Hair Today Gone Tomorrow – covered this point.
