Banning male staff from wearing shorts while allowing their female colleagues to wear above-ankle clothing amounts to sex discrimination, a judge has ruled.
The verdict came at a tribunal brought by a Boots distribution worker who was reprimanded for wearing three-quarter length shorts on a sweltering summer day.
Mukid Miah protested that women working in the warehouse in Preston, Lancs, were permitted to wear garments of the same length and were afforded a greater degree of discretion to show their legs.
Although his claim was unsuccessful because he had brought his case too late, Judge Alan Johnson ultimately ruled that he had been discriminated against.