Could wearing the wrong trousers to work get you the sack? Find out how the new Human Rights Act might strengthen your work rights.

You wake up late, can’t find anything suitable to wear to work, grab whatever’s nearest and rush to work. Your boss takes one look at you in your jeans and fires you for breach of your company’s dress code – he says he’s told you before that you have to look the part and live up to the firm’s image and this is the final straw. You can’t believe you’ve been sacked for something so trivial – but what can you do about it?

Until October 2000, you might have had some legal protection against this kind of treatment, say in unfair dismissal – but it wasn’t guaranteed. There has never been a fundamental charter of human rights in the UK, unlike most other countries. The UK signed up to the European Convention of Human Rights back in the 1950s, but it was never written into English law. Only employees of public bodies could bring a claim in the European Court – and even then, only when they’d already been through all the UK courts (a time-consuming and expensive business). Since October, all that has changed. The Human Rights Act 1998 is now in force, translating all the rights and freedoms contained in the Convention into UK law.

So, how does that help you if you’re fired for wearing the wrong trousers? The Act contains various fundamental rights (each in a separate ‘Article’, or clause).

These are the rights most relevant to the workplace, with examples of how they could apply:

• Freedom from degrading treatment (Article 3) – you could claim degrading treatment if you’re harassed at work, or made to work in a place where, for instance, your colleagues email porn to you.
  
  
• Prohibition on slavery and forced labour (Article 4) – this could apply if you’re made to work excessive hours (though successful cases in this area are very rare, if not non-existent).
  
  
• Right to a fair trial (Article 6) – this may be useful if your company doesn’t operate a disciplinary policy or denies you the opportunity to be represented at a hearing.
  
  
• Right to respect for private and family life (Article 8) – this could apply in relation to surveillance at work, or discrimination on the basis that you’re a working mother.
  
  
• Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 9) – you might have a claim if you’re made to work on Sundays or religious holidays (though there have been few successful cases).
  
  
• Freedom of expression (Article 10) – the dress code issue.
  
  
• Freedom of assembly and association (Article 11) – this could be helpful if you’re denied the right to join a trade union.
  
  
• Prohibition on discrimination (Article 12) – speaks for itself, though bear in mind that this isn’t a ‘free standing’ right: the Act simply says that all the other Articles must be applied without discrimination.

These rights could have a massive impact in the workplace. The dress code issue: does it infringe your right to freedom of expression? You’re gay: can your boss get away with those jokes at your expense any longer, or do you have rights under Articles 8 and 12? You know your boss is monitoring your emails and suspect he may be listening in to your phone calls too: can you use Article 8 and claim there’s been a breach of your privacy? You’re obliged to work on Saturdays so you can’t get to synagogue: can you argue that invades your right to freedom of religion? Sounds great – and in some cases the answer may well be yes. But, like all things legal, its not that simple.

Private and public bodies
The first drawback is that the Act is only enforceable directly against ‘public bodies’, not against individuals or private employers – so you can only go to court and sue your employer for breach of one of these rights if you’re employed by a public authority. That can be a pretty big problem. If you work in the civil service, or for the NHS, say, then you’ll be able to argue your rights under the Act. But if you’re employed by a private company, the Act doesn’t apply directly to you.

Your employer isn’t completely off the hook, however. Courts and tribunals are public bodies and when reaching their decisions will have to take into account human rights issues. So, in the dress code example, when deciding your unfair dismissal case, the tribunal may well end up taking note of your rights to freedom of expression.

The other main problem is that your employer has a number of general defences under the Act. Your boss may be able to justify infringing your rights if he can show, say, that he’s protecting his lawful business interests. May sound easier said than done – but it’s quite likely that employers may be able to justify, say, monitoring your emails or tapping your phone on the basis that it’s necessary on a quality control basis, to protect the reputation of the business. So long as you’ve been told in advance that this kind of surveillance may happen, your boss will probably be able to get away with it.

It’s too early to assess what the full impact of this Act but it’s safe to say that if you’re employed by a public authority, you do have new rights – and if you feel in any way that your boss is ignoring these, you can challenge the position. If you don’t get anywhere, you’ve got the right to go to court. But if you’re an employee of a private company, you’ll need to show you’ve got a right to sue under traditional UK law – like unfair dismissal, sex discrimination or breach of contract – before you can start to argue your human rights. All in all, it’s definitely a step in the right direction – but maybe not as big a step as we’d all hoped for.