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Female Bar Staff Ordered To Wear Low-cut Tops Or Be Sacked

Female bar staff ordered to wear low-cut tops or be sacked

Female bar staff at a Perth nightclub have been ordered to wear tight-fitting low-cut uniforms or face the sack.

The directive triggered widespread criticism on social media, forcing the venue’s owner to apologise.

He now describes the threat as a “throwaway comment”.

Female bar staff told skimpy uniforms compulsory

The controversy began when duty manager Arthur Rafel posted a message to staff at the Amplifer Capitol nightclub:

“To our amazing bar ladies, as we have been busy raising the dress code on our doors, our focus is now shifting to bars – one thing that has slipped for a while is the tolerance of girls wearing the men’s uniform shirt while on bar.

“From next week I will be taking your men’s shirt back from you and replacing it with the ladies bar uniform shirt.

“Let’s work together to get the dress code back to how it should be. This is compulsory.”

Male and female shirts different

The shirts for female staff have a low cut scoop neck which shows the cleavage of employees.

In contrast, the men’s uniform shirt have a high neck.

As a result of the staff complaints, owner David Heaton added this warning:

“As a condition of your employment, the team member is required to wear the uniform.

“If you don’t feel comfortable in the uniform then you are welcome to find employment elsewhere.”

The social media messages, and the women’s and men’s uniform shirts.

The backlash

Staff quickly leaked the messages on social media, and posted comments of their own:

“Forcing our female staff members to wear low cut shirts that expose their cleavage while male staff members are not subject to such objectification is blatant sexism and totally ludicrous.

“We receive enough sexual harassment as it is working in the nightclub industry and pushing such a ridiculous dress code puts your female employees in danger.

“This action, and the disregard of employees expressing their discomfort over the appointed women’s uniforms shows how little Capitol Corp values their female employees.

“Surely there are alternatives to a more presentable uniform standard that doesn’t involve using our bodies as selling points.”

The apology

As a result of the social media backlash, Heaton quickly apologised.

In a full statement posted on the nightclub’s Facebook, he “unreservedly apologised” for the comments.

Further, he said management had learnt a valuable lesson from the response.

“We used poor judgement when proposing the changes, without full consideration of the implications for our female staff.

“There was a lack of awareness and understanding of the ways in which these new uniforms may be viewed, and how staff may feel wearing them.

“Comments that female staff already face sexual harassment as part of working within the nightclub industry, and that these uniform changes would only exacerbate the issue, have resonated with us.

“We take the concerns uttered by all affected staff – and our many patrons – incredibly seriously.

“We care, respect and value our female staff deeply and wish to apologise to them directly for making them feel uncomfortable, disrespected or devalued by the proposed changes.

“Quite simply, we’re sorry.”

Finally, Heaton confirmed staff can wear whichever shirt they feel comfortable in.

What the law says

Industrial advocate Miles Heffernan said it is unlawful to treat someone differently because of their sex.

“Treating someone less favourably based on their sex is unlawful discrimination,” he said.

“Therefore, forcing female employees to wear a more revealing uniform than the guys, then that’s unlawful discrimination.

“Furthermore, if a business makes its female staff wear sexualised uniforms, they could also open themselves up to claims of sexual harassment.”


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