The case of a receptionist sent home from work for refusing to wear high heels has sparked a renewed push for companies to ban "sexist" and "out-dated" dress codes in the UK.

Key points: UK woman Nicola Thorp sent home without pay for wearing flat shoes to work

UK woman Nicola Thorp sent home without pay for wearing flat shoes to work Starts petition calling for it to be made illegal for companies to be able to enforce "sexist" policies

Starts petition calling for it to be made illegal for companies to be able to enforce "sexist" policies Australian lawyer says situation could happen in Australia

Temp worker Nicola Thorp, 27, says she was sent home from work in December last year for wearing flat shoes on her first day as a receptionist for finance company Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

According to a BBC report, Ms Thorp had signed the outsourcing company Portico's appearance policy, which stipulated that female employees were required to wear between 2 and 4-inch heels.

So when she turned up for work flat-footed, she was confronted about her footwear.

Ms Thorp said she would struggle to work a full nine-hour day in the shoes and also questioned whether male employees were required to do the same.

"I said: 'If you can give me a reason as to why wearing flats would impair me to do my job today, then fair enough'. But they couldn't," she told BBC Radio London.

She was eventually sent home without pay.

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Since then, the incident has spurred national debate in the UK, and Portico is reportedly reviewing its policy.

"[The firm has] taken on board the comments regarding footwear and will be reviewing our guidelines," it told the BBC.

PwC said it did not have specific dress guidelines.

This week Ms Thorp launched an online petition calling for it to be made illegal for companies to enforce "sexist" and "out-dated" dress codes.

"Dress code laws should be changed so that women have the option to wear flat formal shoes at work, if they wish," the petition states.

So far the petition has attracted more than 79,000 signatures. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the British Government will be required to respond and the petition will be considered for debate in Parliament.

'Would be considered sex discrimination in Australia'

Workplace relations lawyer Kristin Ramsey, from Hynes Legal, said Australia had no specific laws about dress codes.

"An employer can require an employee to comply with lawful and reasonable directions and take disciplinary action against them if they don't follow that dress code," she said.

"There is certainly nothing that stops an employer in Australia putting in place a certain code about what employees have to wear and what they can't wear."

Dress codes are often enforced by companies in order to portray a professional and consistent "brand" in the workplace.

"Over the past couple of years, we've seen some pretty high-profile cases involving people like Virgin and Woolworths where they've tried to restrict people's hairstyles and require people to remove piercings," Ms Ramsey said.

But corporate dress codes must be reasonable, non-discriminatory and reach workplace health and safety requirements.

Ms Ramsey said what happened to Ms Thorp in the UK would likely amount to sex discrimination in Australia.

"The issue of the request to wear high heels is that it is a request that only applies to women," she said.

"In Australia, in many circumstances that would be seen as a breach of discrimination laws, either at a state or federal level, because there is an argument that women are being treated less favourably than men by being required to wear high heels."

She said having to wear high heels in the workplace could also amount to discrimination on other grounds.

"There might be medical reasons or religious reasons why people can't wear high heels, and if you just had a blanket policy that required that and took disciplinary action against someone for not wearing high heels, that could be another form of discrimination," she said.

"In a work environment where people are on their feet for a long period of time, I [also] question whether there might be some risks to health and safety of the employee that is required to wear the high heels."