In recent days,
it's hot, very hot. And from Lille to Bordeaux via Paris, Bourges, temperatures
are not ready to go down. A real torture for employees who would like to give
up tie suit or costume, especially when their offices are not air conditioned.
But have we the right, in France, to come in tank top, shorts and flip-flops,
or safety vest on outside?
If no legal text
formally prohibited, no not permitted. Freedom to dress as we want it is not a
fundamental freedom. This means that this "freedom" is provided in
some basic documents as the Constitution.
The employer is
not true, unless specific job, all rights on the way its employees are expected
to come to work. Article L1121-1 of the Code stipulates that: "No one can
bring to human rights and individual and collective liberties that are not
justified by the nature of the task and proportionate to the aim pursued".
Clearly, the
employer may restrict freedom of dress for reasons of safety or contacts with
customers or image. For example, a worker must wear his reflective vest and
safety shoes, a stewardess, uniform supplied thereto and a notary clerk will
avoid flip flops and shirt.
So, an employee
who is not working with clients can he, he, come dressed as he wants? Not quite!
In 2001, a technical office, who worked out of contact with customers, was
dismissed because it was allowed to come to work in shorts. The Supreme Court
agreed with the company. Customers are therefore regularly in local man was in
indirect contact with them, which could harm the company's image. And it needs
to wear reflective clothes when they need to go out.
The ideal is to
check the company's internal regulations. Indeed, if an outfit is expressly
prohibited, it must have been submitted to the staff representatives and view
the premises. But to avoid any odd, the ideal is for a man to come in elegant
but casual attire like a suit without a tie, linen trousers, and a slightly
loose shirt. The women, they, more spoiled for choice. Once their holding remains
suitable, of course. The mini-skirt in the office, it can get messy.
