UK woman, 18, was fired for wearing sports shoes at work, gets over $37,000 in compensation

A woman from the United Kingdom (UK) received $37,700 as compensation after she was fired for wearing sports shoes at her workplace. 

The now 20-year-old Elizabeth Benassi joined Maximus UK Services in 2022 when she was 18. As she claimed, she was not aware that the company had any dress code and one day she came to the office wearing sports shoes. She said although many other people were also wearing similar footwear, she was treated unfairly and was fired just after three months of joining. 

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Benassi said in an employment tribunal that she was treated "like a child" by her manager who also criticised her choice of shoes. It was further reported that the organisation showed a "desire to find fault" in young employees. She said most of the people working in the company were in their 20s and she was the youngest one. She said she was being "micromanaged" because of her age. 

Although the company denied any wrongdoing towards Benassi, the tribunal came in favour of her and awarded her the amount as compensation for victimisation. 

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The Metro reported that the judge said, "Had that been the case, Ms Ashraf would no doubt have mentioned it at the time in her email in response. So, Ms Benassi was immediately and unfairly tackled about this on arrival at the office."

The case raises concern about the age-shaming culture in corporate towards young employees as it has been reported that young employees, especially Gen Zs, get treated with some level of bias because of their less experience and probably more straightforward approach to communication. 

(With inputs from agencies)