Teenager wins £30,000 payout after being ‘sacked for wearing trainers to work’

A teenager who was sacked for wearing trainers to work has won almost £30,000 in compensation.

Elizabeth Benassi, now 20, successfully sued her former employer for ‘victimisation’ after her boss ‘treated her like a child’ when she came into work with sneakers.

The former employment adviser was shown the door after only three months in the role but claimed that other employees were not punished for wearing similar footwear.

Benassi was awarded £29,187 by a Croydon tribunal after a judge found that her employer had created a hostile working environment for the then 18-year-old.

The teenager became the the youngest staff member of Maximus UK Services, which works for the Department of Work and Pensions to help people back into work and off benefits, when she joined the company in August 2022.

Only a month later, an ‘incident’ occurred when Benassi wore trainers to work.

After a telling-off from her manager, Ishrat Ashraf, and a subsequent apology, Benassi wrote to Ashraf to complain about how she was spoken to.

She told her: ‘This morning you mentioned that I am not allowed to wear trainers to work.

‘Despite not being aware of this, as I have never worn trainers to work before, I apologised for this and you rolled your eyes.

‘I have now realised am not the only one wearing trainers today and I have not seen anyone receive the same chat that I have.’

The matter was escalated and Benassi was told by the company’s Operations Manager her choice of footwear had been ‘unacceptable’ and that they ‘want to see a professional dress code at all times.’

Later the same day, Benassi asked permission to go to the toilet in front of a client which colleagues said had left them ‘extremely embarrassed.’

Employment Judge Eoin Fowell, said, however, that Benassi’s behaviour was justified because she was ‘being closely monitored’ by her colleagues.

‘Perhaps what was embarrassing was what it said about her working environment,’ the judge added.

On October 31 that year, only three months after joining the team, Benassi was dismissed, with her bosses citing a number of reasons, including her failure to wear ‘appropriate office attire’.

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

Her former employers said the sacking was due to ‘concerns about her performance’, leading them to terminate her contract after three months at a probationary review stage.

They also argued to the tribunal that other staff members did not receiving the same treatment in relation to footwear because one had ‘permission’ to wear trainers because of a ‘sore foot’.

The tribunal’s panel disagreed and awarded Benassi £29,187.

Employment Judge Forwell said: ‘Had that been the case, Ms Ashraf would no doubt have mentioned it at the time in her email in response.

‘So, Ms Benassi was immediately and unfairly tackled about this on arrival at the office.

‘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.’

The employment tribunal dismissed her other claim of age-related harassment.

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