A former JC Penny employee was sent home from work for wearing shorts that were too revealing last week and went to Twitter to express her frustrations with the company.
Sylva Stoel came to work wearing a pair of red shorts she purchased from JC Penny’s career section and when she got there, her manager told her to go home and change because the shorts were against the company’s dress code. Stoel says she was never informed that the dress code policy prohibited shorts but she knew that denim, t-shirts, spaghetti straps, and dresses that were “too short” could not be worn, but she’d seen other employees come to work in denim and t-shirts but they were never sent home to change.
Stoel quit her job after the incident and tweeted about it, posting two pictures wearing her shorts and saying, “Boss sent me home for wearing ‘too revealing’ shorts that I bought from the store I work at in the career section.”
As a fellow young woman I completely understand why she’s so upset about the situation. Sadly, men constantly attempt to police women’s bodies and tell us what is and isn’t appropriate as if they could possibly have any idea what is best for us.
I remember breaking the dress code at a job I was working about three years ago but my assistant manager handled it way better than the manager at JC Penny. He simply pulled me to the side and politely told me that the pants I was wearing were against dress code and asked me not to wear them again. I did not feel offended at all because his approach was not condescending in any way. Had he handled the situation like Stoel’s manager, I would have been just as angry as she was.
At any rate I completely support this young lady’s decision to move on from the company because she’s offended by the manager’s actions. Huffington Post Live did an interview with Sylva Stoel. Check it out.
-Mani B, the intern
