Dive Brief:
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A new dress code announced by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for its store employees, which requires them to wear collared shirts and khakis, as well as blue vests supplied by the company, could be challenged on legal grounds, says Deborah Weinstein, a prominent employment-law attorney and professor at Wharton’s legal studies and business ethics department.
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Employee and unions have already protested the new rule and are demanding that the retailer pay for clothes it’s requiring workers to wear. While retailers are legally allowed to require workers to pay for store uniforms, the cost must not trigger wages to fall below the national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, Weinstein says.
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Wal-Mart is likely skirting that issue by calling the rule a “dress code” rather than a “uniform,” but that is ultimately determined by the law, not the retailer, Weinstein says.
Dive Insight:
Wal-Mart’s new dress code has garnered unflattering press since it was announced, in part because it has drawn attention to what its workers and many employee unions say are its low pay and sub-par working conditions. Because the retailer is requiring street clothes in addition to the vests it does pay for, and is calling the new rule a “dress code” and not a uniform, it appears to pass legal muster, says Deborah Weinstein said.
But workers could argue that the rule is “a uniform in disguise” that unfairly and illegally dampens their take-home pay. That blurry line is not drawn clearly by law, so it could be left up to the courts to make the determination. That is, unless Wal-Mart finds another way to supply or pay for the clothes it requires workers to wear.