(c) istock/grinvalds
Is a legal ban on requiring high heeled shoes in the workplace inevitable? Probably.
On March 8, 2017, Dr. Andrew Weaver, Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Oak Bay-Gordon Head (Green) introduced a Private Member’s Bill, Bill M237 — Workers Compensation Amendment Act, 2017. As the explanatory note to the bill explained, that bill would have amended the BC Workers Compensation Act, RSBC 1996, c. 492, by prohibiting employers from setting varying footwear requirements for their employees based on gender, gender expression or gender identity. Consequently, the law (if it had passed) would have made employers unable to require select employees to wear high heels.
The bill died on the order paper when the legislature rose on May 9th, ahead of the upcoming provincial election. It never really had a chance.
But, is such a ‘ban’ either coming to Ontario or inevitable? I think so.
