Teenager sacked for wearing trainers wins victimisation case but age

A teenager who was sacked after wearing trainers to work tried to sue her bosses for age discrimination, an employment tribunal heard.

Elizabeth Benassi successfully sued her former employer for victimisation after she was “unfairly tackled” by business manager Ishrat Ashraf over her choice of footwear.

The young employee – who was not aware of the company’s smart dress code – alleged she was “treated like a child” over the dress code issue and insisted other staff who wore trainers were not sanctioned.

When she was dismissed from the recruitment company after just three months, Ms Benassi took them to an employment tribunal and her claims have now been upheld by a judge who said bosses had a “desire to find fault” with her.

The now 20-year-old was awarded total compensation of £29,187.

The tribunal, held in Croydon, south London, heard Ms Benassi was 18 when she joined Maximus UK Services in August 2022.

The company works for the Department for Work and Pensions, helping to get people back into work and off benefits.

It was heard her colleagues were “a young group of employees” who were mainly in their early 20s.

She told the tribunal that being the youngest “made life difficult for her” in that she was “excluded from the group” and “micromanaged”.

The panel were told of an incident when Ms Benassi wore trainers to work.

Employment judge Eoin Fowell said: “This was a breach of the dress code, although she was not aware of it. Ms Ashraf spoke to her about it straight away and Ms Benassi apologised.”

‘You rolled your eyes’

The young employment adviser said she was was unhappy with the way she had been spoken to and emailed Ms Ashraf to say so.

She said: “I apologised for this, and you rolled your eyes. I have now realised I am not the only one wearing trainers today and I have not seen anyone receive the same chat that I have.”

By this point, Ms Ashraf had escalated the matter to operations manager Abdul Ali, who said: “I want to see a professional dress code at all times. This is totally unacceptable coming to work in trainers. Please adhere to a professional dress code.”

The tribunal heard evidence of another incident in which Ms Benassi attended a team-building event at a bowling alley.

She told the panel that she had asked Ms Ashraf not to share her age, as she was embarrassed, but found out at that event that the woman had told colleagues she was just 18.

Ms Benassi said: “I didn’t want to be treated differently or as I had put it, ‘as the baby of the group’.”

During her employment, Ms Benassi raised a grievance against her boss.

On Oct 31, she was invited to a probation meeting and told that she would be dismissed.

‘No allowance was made’

She was told that her failure to adhere to the dress code was part of this.

She sued for harassment on grounds of age and victimisation, the latter of which was upheld.

The company says that they sacked her over “concerns about her performance”.

They gave evidence to the tribunal that the reason other employees were not spoken to in the same way regarding wearing trainers was because one staff member had been “given permission” to do so as she had a sore foot.

Judge Fowell said: “No allowance was made for the fact that she was new and may not have been familiar with the dress code. It was therefore a clear unfairness, and indicates a desire to find fault.

“She was literally being scrutinised from the moment of her arrival.”

But her claims of harassment relating to age were not upheld as the tribunal could not determine that her treatment related to the fact that she was 18.

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