A dress code is a set of rules defining appropriate attire for a specific situation or place. A dress code can be imposed by event organisers, an employer, or another entity. A dress code may specify elements such as the type of clothing, colours, skirt length, or the material from which clothing is made.

Dress code – what is it?

Examples of dress codes include:

Formal (e.g., suit and tie for men, evening gown for women)
Business casual (e.g., smart trousers and a shirt for men, skirt and a blouse for women)
Casual (e.g., jeans and a t-shirt)
Athletic (e.g., sportswear)

A dress code may be imposed to maintain a professional image, emphasise the formality of a situation, or for safety or hygiene purposes (e.g., when working in a laboratory).

Dress code in the workplace. Why is it important?

Professional image: A dress code helps maintain a professional image in the workplace or at an important event. Appropriate attire can increase chances of success and help build a positive image.
Safety and hygiene: In some professions and workplaces, a dress code exists for safety or hygiene reasons. For example, construction workers must wear specialist protective equipment, and medical personnel must wear appropriate clothing and footwear to avoid infections.
Appropriate for the situation: A dress code helps determine what attire is appropriate for a given situation. For example, at a wedding or formal reception, more elegant attire is appropriate, while on holiday or in an informal setting, one can dress more casually.
Culture and respect: In some countries and cultures, there are certain dress standards related to respect for culture and traditions. For example, in Arab countries, modest attire should be worn, and in a church, one should dress appropriately for a sacred place.

In summary, a dress code is important because it allows for maintaining a professional image, ensures safety and hygiene, allows for appropriate adaptation to the situation, and shows respect for culture and traditions.

Can an employer require a dress code?

Yes, an employer can require a dress code if it is business-justified. An employer has the right to establish rules regarding employee appearance, but this must be done in a legally compliant manner.

When requiring a dress code, the employer should first inform employees about dress requirements and provide clear guidelines on the matter (regulations). These requirements should be based on business objectives, such as ensuring a professional company image or employee safety in the workplace. It will therefore heavily depend on the workplace, position held, and type of work performed.

However, an employer cannot violate employee rights or discriminate against them based on their appearance. A dress code cannot, for example, require a specific weight or height, nor can it discriminate based on race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

Types of work dress codes – examples

There are different types of dress codes, depending on the situation and circumstances. Below are a few examples:

Formal (Black Tie)

Formal dress code is the most elegant type of dress code. It requires men to wear a tuxedo and women a long, evening gown. This is a typical dress code for wedding celebrations, banquets, or galas. It does not apply to regular employees (it may apply to a CEO receiving an important award).

Semi-Formal or Business

This type of dress code requires wearing dark suits or elegant dresses for women. This dress code is used, for example, during author evenings, balls, or important business meetings.

Business Casual dress code

This type of dress code requires wearing elegant but not overly formal clothing, such as trousers, shirts, blouses, or blazers with a skirt. This dress code is often used in workplaces and business meetings.

Smart Casual dress code

High-quality casual clothing such as polo shirts, jumpers, dark jeans.

Casual dress code

A casual dress code means you can wear relaxed, everyday clothing, such as jeans, t-shirts, sports shoes, etc. This dress code is suitable for work in places where there is no client contact.

Athletic – This type of dress code is required in places where physical activities are performed, such as fitness centres, yoga studios, or gyms. It requires wearing sportswear and sports shoes. Although intended for sports, it is sometimes allowed in some workplaces – e.g., in the IT industry.

Uniform – In some professions, for example, in healthcare or the military, wearing a uniform is required.

Work attire regulations – dress code rules

Regulations are a written set of rules regarding employee appearance, made available to employees. Effective dress code regulations must contain precise information that is clear and understandable to the employee and will allow for subsequent enforcement of dress rules among employees.

The set of rules regarding employee attire should include:

Purpose and scope of the dress code

The regulations should clearly explain the business justification for introducing the dress code (e.g., building a professional image, ensuring safety, employee identification) and precisely define which employees it applies to. This may include division by departments, positions, or locations.

Specific work attire guidelines

The regulations should contain specific guidelines regarding attire and all its elements – including shoes, jewellery, makeup. Acceptable colours, types of clothing.

Specific guidelines regarding prohibited items eliminate misunderstandings – the regulations should explicitly prohibit, for example, flip-flops, shorts, transparent clothing, clothing with controversial slogans, or excessively revealing outfits.

Personal hygiene and grooming standards

The regulations should address clothing cleanliness, acceptable beard length, acceptable hairstyles, makeup, or visible tattoos and piercings. It is worth specifying to your employees even what constitutes neat attire or that an employee should take care of body odour and use deodorant if they have a problem with sweating.

Exceptions and special circumstances

It may be necessary to discuss special circumstances such as client meetings, company events, or casual Fridays.

In multicultural environments, it is also necessary to address the needs of groups with specific dress requirements related to religion and the needs of people with disabilities (medical reasons).

The employer must also consider cultural diversity, provided it does not conflict with health and safety or the nature of the work. While Poland lacks regulations like the US CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination based on hair texture, banning natural afro hairstyles could be considered indirect discrimination based on race. Braids, dreadlocks, and afros should therefore be accepted as natural cultural expression. The same applies to cultural tattoos (e.g., Maori moko), although this would only apply to employees with a cultural heritage basis (a Pole who tattoos Japanese irezumi is not protected).

Consequences of dress code violations

The system of penalties that the employer foresees for violating dress selection requirements.

Description of the appeals procedure

It should provide information on how to challenge decisions regarding violations of workplace dress rules and how an employee can appeal if penalised for non-compliance with the dress code.

Where to place the dress code regulations?

The best place to publish dress code rules is in the work regulations (Art. 104 §1 of the Labour Code). A separate document can also be introduced, to which the regulations will refer, but to ensure employees familiarise themselves with it, it is worth making it a requirement, e.g., as part of the new employee onboarding plan.

This information should also be placed in the company knowledge base, accessible to employees.

Check how the employee intranet works in tomHRM!

In companies where work regulations are not required (fewer than 50 people), dress rules can be included in the employment contract.

Company errors in creating dress code policy

When creating dress code procedures, remember not to make the following mistakes:

Unclear language, phrasing, lack of clarity regarding recommended and prohibited elements,
Outdated standards that do not reflect modern times (e.g., lack of acceptance of tattoos, which about 10% of Poles now have),
Different requirements for women and men without justification,
Discriminatory policies (afro hairstyles, religious symbols),
Failure to include an appeals procedure.

Can the use of religious symbols be prohibited in the workplace in Poland?

Articles 113 and 183a of the Labour Code expressly prohibit discrimination based on religion, creed, disability, or ethnic origin. An employer violating these provisions may be subject to a fine of PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000 (Art. 281 point 2 of the Labour Code), and an employee may claim compensation no less than the minimum wage.

In Poland, wearing religious symbols generally cannot be prohibited unless there is an objective justification arising from the nature of the work (e.g., a turban in a steel mill posing a fire hazard or a long beard in the food industry). The National Labour Inspectorate officially states that “an employer cannot forbid an employee from wearing jewellery with religious symbolism or religious emblems at work, unless due to their type, size, or manner of wearing, they are too ostentatious or inappropriate in the given circumstances.”

The European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Eweida v. United Kingdom, ruled that wearing a small, discreet cross does not harm an employee's professional appearance, and imposing a ban violates freedom of conscience and religion (Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights). This ruling is binding for Poland as a party to the Convention.

At the same time, the Court of Justice of the EU presents a slightly different approach – in cases C-157/15 (Achbita) and C-188/15 (Bougnaoui), it allowed for the possibility of an employer introducing an internal rule of “ideological neutrality,” but only under the following conditions:

The ban applies to all symbols (religious, political, philosophical) without exception,
It is applied consistently to all employees,
It only applies to positions with client contact,
It is proportionate and genuinely necessary for conducting business.

In Poland, such a complete ban would be difficult to defend due to stronger constitutional protection of religious freedom. Polish courts would likely not accept a general ban on religious symbols without very strong justification.

Example of good practice in dress code and religion – Bank Pekao S.A. introduced internal guidelines allowing Muslim women to wear a hijab in colours consistent with the bank's uniform, Sikhs to wear a turban, and employees with orthopaedic problems to wear black sports shoes.

Can a woman refuse to wear high heels at work?

Elegant high heels are a common part of a woman's daily office life. However, a woman can refuse to wear them in several cases:

lack of connection between footwear and work – e.g., there is no client or contractor contact, and the woman does not need to look particularly elegant. In such cases, a requirement for closed-toe footwear is sufficient. In practice, for women, such positions would include hostesses or presenters, but even a bank employee who spends all day behind a counter and whose feet are not visible can refuse to wear high heels.
medical reasons – an occupational health doctor can issue an opinion stating contraindications to specific attire, and the employer has no right to demand information about a specific illness. Contraindications for high heels would include spinal conditions, flat feet, bunions.
discrimination – if women in the organisation wear high heels, but men are not required to wear elegant footwear with, for example, narrow toes, then such rules can be considered a form of discrimination.

Case studies – Polish examples of dress code disputes

In Poland, there have been several cases related to damage to a company's image due to less formal employee attire and related to the limits of an employer's interference in an employee's external appearance.

The Supreme Court ruling of 25 January 2005 (I PK 153/04), which established a precedent on dismissals for dress code violations. The Court ruled that an employee can only be dismissed without notice for non-compliance with corporate attire if their conduct genuinely threatens the employer's interests. This means that mere non-compliance with dress requirements is not sufficient grounds for termination without notice – the employer must prove specific harm or a threat to the company's image. This ruling became a point of reference for all subsequent dress code disputes in Poland.

The most publicised case in recent years involved a croupier from Casinos Poland in Wrocław, who became a symbol of the fight against discriminatory dress codes. The employee (identifying as non-binary) was dismissed in June 2020 after one and a half years of employment. The casino's work regulations required women to wear “heavy makeup,” painted nails, and elegant high heels, while men only had to wear flat shoes and have short nails.

The Supreme Court's groundbreaking ruling of 25 February 2025 (III PSKP 21/24) overturned the second instance judgment and clearly stated: if an employer requires women to work in high heels and makeup, while men can work in flat shoes without similar requirements, such differentiation constitutes gender discrimination. The Supreme Court emphasised that merely citing “company reputation” or “customer expectations” is not enough – the employer must prove that the requirements are proportionate, necessary, and justified by the nature of the work.

Polish legal practice shows a clear evolution in the approach to dress codes. From the restrictive stance 20 years ago, where employers had broad discretion in defining requirements, we are moving towards a protective model where employee rights, personal dignity, and the prohibition of discrimination are paramount. Key theses from Polish jurisprudence are: a dress code must be proportionate and justified by the nature of the work, it cannot differentiate burdens based on gender without objective justification, it must respect employees' gender identity, and dismissal for dress code violation is only possible with proven real harm to the employer. These rulings reduce the employer's ability to interfere with an employee's appearance and shape the modern approach to dress codes in Polish companies and institutions.

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Dress Code