What are my rights as an employee? Can I be forced into wearing uniform that I find degrading and ageist or am I protected by the age discrimination legislation? I am a 63 year old woman and work in a store where they dictate I must wear a baseball cap on the shop floor. For a person of my age, I feel this item is totally age inappropriate and it leaves me feeling embarrassed and humiliated on a daily basis. I have spoken to my superiors about this matter as I believe that I am a victim of age related discrimination; everyone has the right to retain their dignity in the workplace. Unfortunately my employer has concluded that this item forms part of the uniform for this department and has refused to allow me to discard it or wear something more appropriate.

Age discrimination legislation will not necessarily protect you in this situation.  The answer will depend on the reason why your employer has asked you to wear a baseball cap.  If, for example, you worked in the café and you had been asked to wear the cap for health and safety reasons then your employer is likely to be able to justify the wearing of the cap.  However, if there was no health and safety related reason and you could show that the reason for asking you to wear the cap was age-related, i.e. your employer was looking to portray a younger environment by imposing the cap on all staff, then this may amount to harassment.  The unwanted conduct of being required to wear a cap may, on the grounds of age, have the purpose or effect of violating your dignity.  However, it is the case that not all older people would object to wearing a cap and whether or not conduct amounts to harassment will be judged, in part, objectively.

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