Nicola Thorp said she was ‘laughed at’ by staff (Picture: SWNS)

Everyone knows heels can be horrifically uncomfortable – but did you know it’s still legal for workplaces to send their female employees home for not wearing them?

This happened to one woman, 27-year-old Nicola Thorp, when she turned up for a receptionist temping job at PwC’s offices in central London in flat shoes.

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Now she’s campaigning for it to be made illegal to force women to wear heels and make up at work.

‘I expressed my confusion as to why [I was being turned away from work], and they explained that flat shoes are not part of their dress code for women,’ she told the Evening Standard.




‘The supervisor told me that I would be sent home without pay unless I went to the shop and bought a pair of two to four inch heels. I refused and was sent home.’

Now Nicola has launched a petition against formal dress code rules (Picture: SWNS)

Her employers, PwC’s outsourced reception firm Portico, also apparently told her to wear make up for the role and gave her a colour chart of ‘acceptable shades’.

She claims that when she said men were allowed to wear flat shoes in the office, and that the heels rule was discriminatory, she was ‘laughed at’.

Nicola has now launched a petition on the Parliament website calling for it to illegal for companies to demand women wear heels.

‘It’s still legal in the UK for a company to require female members of staff to wear high heels at work against their will,’ she writes.

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

‘Current formal work dress codes are outdated and sexist.’

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As with all Parliament.uk petitions, if it reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will send a response. At 100,000 signatures, the petition will be considered for a debate in Parliament.

A spokesperson for PwC told Metro.co.uk: ‘PwC outsources its front of house/reception services to a third party supplier. We first became aware of this matter on 10 May some five months after the issue arose.

‘The dress code referenced in the article is not a PwC policy. We are now in discussion with the suppliers about the policy.’

And a Portico spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘In line with industry standard practice, we have personal appearance guidelines across many of our corporate locations.

‘These policies ensure staff are dressed consistently and include recommendations for appropriate style of footwear for the role.

‘We have taken on board the comments regarding footwear and will be reviewing our guidelines in consultation with our clients and team members.’