Canadian waitress sues boss for demanding her to wear bra at work

Christine Schell had stopped wearing a bra three years ago for comfort and health reasons.

Image Credit: Global News

TORONTO: A Canadian waitress has decided to sue her former employer for changing the dress code and asking her to wear a bra at work.

According to Daily Mail, 25-year-old Christine Schell was recently fired from her job after she refused to comply with the change in dress code which meant that she had to wear a bra to work.

Schell had stopped wearing a bra three years ago for comfort and health reasons.

Schell began her job as a waitress at Greenside Grill in the Osoyoos Golf Club in May this year.

However, her habit of not wearing a bra started making the customers coming to the club highly uncomfortable and they complained to the owners about her being braless.

This led to the introduction of a new dress code, which stated that “women must wear either a tank top or bra under their uniform shirt”.

When she refused to comply, she was fired from the job.

She later chose to contest the case in a court of law and filed a plea before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

She claimed that the men didn’t have the same restrictions on their dress code.

“It’s gender-based and that’s why it’s a human rights issue,” she said. 

“I have nipples and so do the men and it doesn’t affect anybody’s ability to do their job,” she added.

The tribunal is yet to decide on her human rights complaint and ascertain if wearing a bra was a justifiable work requirement.

“It doesn’t affect anybody’s ability to do their job,” she said.

A similar case was reported last year when a 22-year-old barmaid Kate Hannah took to social media to write a strongly worded post after being sacked for not wearing a bra for her pub job.