forced to wear a hat

andy_hardaker

im not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but, my wife works in a major supermarket and has been told this week that she HAS GOT TO wear a santa hat on the checkout until christmas.
she doesnt want to! around 90% of her workmates dont want to wear it either. the store manager has told them they must wear them or face disciplinary action.
are the firm within their rights to do this?

thanks

DirtyDick

Make it part of working uniform during December, then I should imagine it's perfectly okay.* That said, I should imagine the manager wouldn't want to push it in case one of them went to the local press.

*Unless she has a turban... that's probably have to have tinsle around it.

Wellery82

My personal thoughts are that it is causing fuss you don't want to in the current climate - clearly the store wants to promote a festive inmage, and if 1 person refuses then all the staff refuse. If you are the person who causes this you already seem a troublemaker which doesn't bode well, especially about something very minor.

Regards whether the company can, again i would suggest yes but am not well qualified enough to know the ins and outs. It would seem if it is staff uniform then unless there is a legitamate reason based on something such as religion or health and safety then they are within their rights to make this request

dandelionclock30

Instead of saying i dont want to because I just dont want to.I would say that I had psyorasis of the scalp and that I was advised by the DR to not wear headwear as it was an irritant. Hats can be very itchy!

Pink_Princess_1

Has she said why she doesnt want to? I take it these are the 'text santa' hats which she is being asked to promote? could she not just wear one at the start of her shift then take if off saying she is too warm?

StephenM_2

andy_hardaker wrote: »

im not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but, my wife works in a major supermarket and has been told this week that she HAS GOT TO wear a santa hat on the checkout until christmas.
she doesnt want to! around 90% of her workmates dont want to wear it either. the store manager has told them they must wear them or face disciplinary action.
are the firm within their rights to do this?

thanks

If they all decided not to wear it then it would be hard for the manager to discipline them. Just make sure there's no identifiable ringleader.

BitterAndTwisted

This is a much too trivial issue to take a stand on. It's just not sensible to risk losing a job over it in this economic climate.

vax2002

Wearing a hat indoors all day in a heated environment is dangerous.

mrcow

andy_hardaker wrote: »

the store manager has told them they must wear them or face disciplinary action.

Tell him to put it in writing.

Sambucus_Nigra

vax2002 wrote: »

Wearing a hat indoors all day in a heated environment is dangerous.

Chefs manage it.

OP - seriously - it is cheesy and annoying but needs must. Do you really want to risk a disciplinary because of a hat?

bris

Bah humbug