Polo says dress code not forced
From The San Francisco Chronicle.

Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., in a court filing, has denied allegations that it requires store employees to buy and wear the company's clothing at work -- a common retail industry practice that the California Labor Commission considers illegal.

The New York company, responding to a Sept. 18 federal lawsuit in San Francisco, disputes allegations that employees are required to buy Polo-brand outfits or accessories as a condition of keeping their jobs.

That's what Polo employee Toni Young, 31, complained she has been forced to do since she took a sales job at Polo's Post Street store in 1997.

Young, who still works at the store, said she has logged more than $35,000 in Polo purchases as a result of the alleged policy and her desire to keep her job. She said she spent $7,000 of her $22,000 gross salary last year to meet work wardrobe requirements.

Polo, however, said in its response filed Monday that its dress code -- which it said applies to some employees but did not say which ones -- does not subject them to clothing inspections at work, as claimed in Young's lawsuit.

Polo also said its policy does not, as claimed, require employees to purchase the company's latest seasonal fashions to avoid reprimands or written warnings.

Polo denied having a "uniform requirement" -- language that speaks directly to provisions of the California Labor Code and the state's Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders prohibiting employers from forcing employees to pay for their own uniforms.

Meanwhile, he said, Polo employees who have contacted the attorneys in connection with the lawsuit have said that in recent weeks, the retailer has appeared to relax its policy in that stores have not required employees to purchase Polo clothes.

The attorneys are seeking class-action status and unspecified damages in the lawsuit. The suit claims that Polo's dress code also violates antitrust law, by making Polo employees captive buyers and thereby giving Polo an unfair competitive advantage.

A Polo spokeswoman in New York declined comment on the lawsuit or Polo's dress-code policy.

Young, who is African American, also has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in state court, alleging biased treatment against her by Polo. Polo has challenged the legal grounds for the discrimination allegations.
Earlier posts: Racial tension at Ralph Lauren