Work Related Lingerie Dress Codes

Now that the warmer weather has arrived in this part of the country, more and more people seem to be writing about lingerie dress codes or lingerie etiquette in the work place. At first glance, it seems to be an odd topic, even irrelevant, but if you think about the trend toward lingerie as outerwear in addition to innerwear, then maybe the work place issue is more prevalent than one thinks.

In reality, how far does the employer go before infringing on the employees’ rights? For example, women that wear no panties? Is that permissible or not? It is possible and even acceptable at some jobs to require a woman to wear a bra, camisole, undershirt or some type of breast covering. Take the airline industry, for instance. At one point, stewardesses, as the women used to be called, were told what type of bras to wear while on the job.

And how far does the labour board or human rights commission allow an employer to tread when dictating lingerie etiquette?

• Should the topic of lingerie be a detailed policy written out in the employee manual?
• Should it be dealt with on an individual basis, leaving the organization open to criticism for favouring one employee over another?
• Or should the employee decide what is right for the company and wear what she wants?

And you might ask, “What on earth does the organization have to do with the employees’ lingerie?” Well, there are many reasons that an organization might create formal policies regarding lingerie in the work place.

• Loss of customers is a real fear, as the older generation is not going to accept new social mores.
• Wearing no bra or covering or leaving a blouse unbuttoned very low displaying the full bra creates a poor company image.
• Deviations from the norm are distracting to other employees. And not just to men but women find it distasteful when others not do meet certain criteria. All of this unimportant activity leads to unproductive behaviour.

So I leave you with a few points to ponder:

• Are camisoles, when worn as blouses, acceptable as blouses especially when designed with spaghetti straps only? Personally, I believe they are completely fine with a suit jacket but alone I am not sure.
• How much cleavage or bra is a woman permitted to display?
• Is a woman even permitted to leave her blouse unbuttoned to show her fancy bra? And if not, what about the lace from a camisole?
• Lastly, if women are not permitted to go pantyless, then what about men? Are they required to wear briefs to work?