is it illegal to force employees to wear fancy dress?

4743hudsonj

ok so in my spare time i work part time at subways:cool:

not by a long shot a good or pleasant job but a job none the less, i turn up, do my hours and go home. thats it.

but tomorrow, unfortunately the manager has decided he wants us all to have our faces painted and maybe some fancy dress for Halloween. Now i dont mind a giggle but i dont find this amusing.

at first i flat out refused to, but not the manager has decided to say " if you dont, i wont allow you to work, end of".

I really dont like the idea of having to work all day looking like an idiot, and not to mention the fact that behind the counter is extremely warm at best and the sweat will be clearly visible with all the paint

is it right and more to the point legal for them to impose this on me and others? or should it be optional....

our contracts simply state we should be smart, clean and wear supplie tee/apron/cap

nothing about this so can i use that?


sounds very silly but its not how i want to spend my orking day. come night though and i wont be too bothered!

JennyB

i think it is an implied term of an employment contract that the employee must obey all reasonable and lawful instructions given by the employer. i think you have to grin and bear it... or be in breach of contract!

donnajunkie

make a point of spilling sauce on the costume. :shhh: i assume they are supplying the costume. as far as make up on the face goes how about wiping your face every now and then to smudge it and make it look crap. all of these things have to seem accidental of course.
whether they can make you do this is fairly irrelevant because its the kind of job were its hire and fire all the time. if you want to keep your job just do it and think of ways to be sneaky like i have suggested.

4743hudsonj

thank both of you

thought it might come down to that

but seeing as the manager will be stuffed all day if i dont work im hoping to use that as leverage but still i might just have to wipe my face;)

MarsdenCuckoo

Usually contracts of employment do include some sort of veiled 'and any other duties as required from time to time'. If you need the job, just do your best - it's only one day after all; if not, then push back but if everyone else is in fancy dress then who's actually going to look the divvy???

Errata

Ten minutes after your face has been painted start scratching it - you may be allergic to the rubbish they will be using, and you'll have to wash it off smartish before health and safety descend on your boss...............and don't forget to put it in the Accident Book

baby_fuzz

can you compromise and wear a silly hat? skip the face paint and costume, but at least you could show that you were getting into the spirit of things. You could also raise the issues of health & safety - face paints and sandwiches don't mix etc.

4743hudsonj

Errata wrote: »

Ten minutes after your face has been painted start scratching it - you may be allergic to the rubbish they will be using, and you'll have to wash it off smartish before health and safety descend on your boss...............and don't forget to put it in the Accident Book

didnt think of that one and hardly any of us want to wear face paint 2/7 infact

the other 5 including me are not too impressed

DVardysShadow

There are religious grounds for objecting to Halloween ....

mandragora_2

I like Errata's idea - better than the one I was going to suggest, which is to make a formal complaint that you find it 'demeaning' and refuse to do it on those grounds. To be honest, I think I would find it demeaning, if I had to - you are there to work, not be humiliated. I don't know whether it would stand as a reasonable ground to carry out an instruction, but I'm betting they wouldn't want to take you on over it. However, the H&S angle is a much better one... 'allergy' has 'I tried to comply, but just couldn't; you surely won't be forcing me to do something which makes me poorly, will you?' as a sub text, rather than my own more po-faced idea!

wakeupalarm

Tell them your a devout Christian and it's religious persecusion to force you to take part in pagen festivals involving whichcraft.