HEEL BAN HAILED
B.C. politicians call for repeal of dress codes that require women to wear high-heeled shoes on the job
Time wounds all heels. Especially, it seems, for women who work in restaurants with dress codes that require them to wear high-heeled shoes while spending long hours on their feet.
Now, provincial politicians agree it’s high time for B.C. to ban gender-based footwear requirements for all employees, an idea that’s drawing praise from those in the hospitality industry — particularly from women with horror stories of bloody, bruised toes.
Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green Party, introduced a bill last week in the legislature, which would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act to “ensure that employers do not set varying footwear requirements for their employees based on gender, gender expression or gender identity.”
Weaver was shocked, he said, to read a series published last month on news website The Tyee reporting that some B.C. bars and restaurants have sexist policies requiring women to wear high heels. Weaver, the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, said: “I read that, and I thought: ‘I can’t believe this is a thing in 2017.’ ”
Over the weekend, Premier Christy Clark added her support, posting on Facebook: “In some workplaces in B.C., women are still required to wear high heels on the job. This isn’t just old-fashioned; in 2017, it’s unacceptable.”
On Monday, Clark said her government was looking at a number of options to address the issue, including Weaver’s bill. “We are trying to figure out the ones that are best.”
“We’re looking for the simplest, quickest ... we’d like to get on with it because women shouldn’t be forced to wear high heels by their employers. It’s not fair,” Clark said.
WorkSafeBC doesn’t have statistics specific to injuries caused by the wearing of high heels at work, said spokeswoman Trish Knight Chernecki, but 30 per cent of accepted injury claims for female and male servers working in restaurants, pubs, bars, and nightclubs were caused by slips, trips and falls.
A study of injuries recorded by U.S. emergency departments estimated the number of injuries related to high-heeled shoes nearly doubled between 2002-12, according to a report published in 2015 by the American Physical Therapy Association.
Problems associated with longterm high-heel use include bone bruises, stress fractures, pinched nerves, and arthritis, said Greg Laakmann, past president of the B.C. Podiatric Medical Association.
NDP leader John Horgan said he would be willing to support a ban on high heels in the workplace, but questioned why it was suddenly a priority over MLA Jodie Wickens’ private member’s bill this month to guarantee time off from a job for women fleeing domestic violence.
“I have no problem of banning high heels in the hospitality sector,” he said. “But why wouldn’t the premier support Jodie Wickens’ bill that would assist women fleeing domestic and sexual violence? That’s serious.
“Let’s have some order of magnitude here.”
Ian Tostenson, president of the B.C. Restaurant & Food Services Association, said he was in touch Monday with WorkSafeBC about the high-heel question, and he “absolutely” supports Weaver’s motion.
The fact this issue is finally being raised was praised by former and current restaurant employees, including Maggie Lauzon, who spent five years serving in B.C. restaurants. Lauzon said she was fired, without cause, from a Vancouver chain restaurant after she “pushed back” on a company requirement to wear “two-inch heels.”
Lauzon received severance pay, was told she didn’t “fit the brand” of the restaurant, she said, and dismissed.
“When people take their shoes off at the end of the night, there’s blood, there’s toenails being lost,” Lauzon said. “I have friends who say: ‘Suck it up, if you want a job.’ My response is always: ‘Why should I be required to debase myself simply to make a living?’ It’s the sort of thing men don’t often have to think about.”