Sex Discrimination -- Sexy Uniforms at the Rocket Bar

Above is the Facebook picture and below is the offending dress.

It is interesting how news is written.

A young Bosnian Muslim woman who managed to get herself a job at the Rocket Bar in Mayfair and then quit after just eight days has won a £3,000 damages payout because she was made to wear a figure hugging red dress. According to the woman, Fata Lemes (photos courtesy of here), the dress made her feel like a prostitute.

It seems that the Rocket Bar has two uniforms; a summer one and a winter one. The winter one being a loose-fitting black deal and the summer one being the offending red dress that was the subject of the claim. Lemes was so concerned about the look of the dress that she could not bring herself to where it for a shift. However, she had no qualms about getting a picture in it.

The interesting part is that she is reported to have said: "I was brought up a Muslim and am not used to wearing sexually attractive clothes. I might as well be naked in that dress." I guess the key words here are "am not used to wearing" because that must be construed to mean, it is uncommon for me but I have been known to wear the odd sexy outfit.

The social networking phenomenon that is Facebook means that if you are on it then someone somewhere will know who you are and be privy to what you have posted on Facebook. This is the case for Lemes, who has posted pictures of herself wearing clothes that seem far more revealing than the red dress.

Now, for the interesting news bit. The Central London Employment Tribunal rejected her claim for £17,500 as 'manifestly absurd', and was explicit in stating that the dress was not revealing or indecent. However, they did make an award to her based on sexual discrimination in the work place. It seems that the Rocket Bar did not make their male employees where an alternate uniform in the summer months.

Is there a lesson in all of this? Yes, make sure that your male and female employees are treated equally across the board, at least in terms of uniforms.