A UK-based woman has sparked quite the stir online after HR deemed her outfit inappropriate for the workplace.
"I've had an email from a lady in HR about my dress attire for work," shared the woman, who didn't reveal her name.
"Apparently it's inappropriate. I don't think it's that bad."
She then stepped away from the camera so viewers could see the sleeveless black dress in full.
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In the TikTok video, she then approached a male colleague, Matt, for his opinion on the outfit, asking whether it was inappropriate and "distracting".
Coming to her defence, Matt responded: "I think it's appropriate work attire."
But things didn't end there. The following day, the woman had a meeting with Paula from HR about the email — and yes, she wore a different outfit to the meeting.
"I am basically in a blazer so she can't be mad," she said before the meeting. "Or can she? It is low cut, who cares? Let's see what she says."
The woman filmed herself during the meeting, which meant that we heard Paula as she said: "I must admit, I'm slightly disappointed seeing how you're dressed today following on from the email."
As the woman tried to argue that she'd spoken to Matt and that he'd had no issue with the outfit, Paula replied: "I haven't spoken to Matt. Really, I don't think he was in a position to say what he did. We do need to address this issue because we are having comments from other members of staff."
The woman's counter argument was that it wasn't her fault if she was "distracting" her coworkers.
"That's not on me, Paula. That's kind of on them," she said.
The conversation went on, and Paula revealed some of the comments HR had received about her work attire, including that she was "begging for attention".
This was a surprise to the woman, who was visibly taken aback. As the meeting concluded, Paula asked the worker if she was "going to do anything differently".
"Sure, I guess I will go shopping this weekend," she replied, adding: "Thank you very much for your time, I suppose."
But while she was in disbelief, the majority of the TikTok comments sided with HR.
"I was soo ready to be on your side and then you stepped back from the camera," one wrote.
"Honey, imma hold your hand when I say this. That is a clubbing dress," another wrote.
"I wanna be a girl's girl but babe I have that exact dress and I wear it to the bars," a third wrote, with a further chiming in that she used to go clubbing in a similar outfit back in the 2000s.
Others, however, pointed out the inappropriate remarks made by HR.
"I think the comments about you begging for attention were completely out of line, but at the same time neither of these are office appropriate," one reasoned.
"I must admit… I'm slightly disappointed by the comments," a second said.
"Wow! These comments. It is not her fault people are distracted," a third penned.
It comes two months after a photo of a work dress worn by Lindsey Amore went viral on X (formerly Twitter).
"So my boss told me to 'cover up' now that we have a man in the office (my office was entirely women before this new hire)," she wrote on X.
"I have worn this dress once a week since I've started in FEBRUARY. It's never been a problem. My office code is business casual. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS??"
Opinions were mixed, with some seeing no issue with the dress, and others claiming it didn't fall into the category of "business casual".
Interestingly, according to SBS, the recent right to disconnect from work laws have prompted discussion about other workplace demands, including dress code requirements for employees.
Giuseppe Carabetta, an associate professor of employment law with the Business School at the University of Technology Sydney, told SBS that "employers have a right to issue lawful and reasonable orders".
"That comes from England, and comes from the common law," Carabetta told the publication. "It's still there, and that is basically the source of these policies.
"The courts and tribunals in Australia, in the UK and even in other places have said that, broadly speaking, dress codes fall under this category."
However, he added, these dress codes have to comply with anti-discrimination laws and cannot be "gender-specific".
The professor gave an example from 2016, when a receptionist was sent home for not wearing heels. "Because that is gender-specific and it's female-specific, that would be problematic from the employer's perspective," he explained.
Feature Image: TikTok/@ultimatebykomi