A male shop-worker has claimed he has faced discrimination at work for wearing makeup.
Scott Ayton-Laplanche stated that a manger asked him to remove his makeup - despite his workplace not having a no-makeup policy.
“I was quite shocked,” Ayton-Laplanche wrote on Facebook, alongside a photo showing the beauty look he’d been wearing that day. “After I refused.
“I’m getting told to tone it down? Excuse me? Tone it down? You can’t tone down a masterpiece.
“I felt this was discriminatory?
“Obviously I’m not going to take off my makeup when all my other (female) colleagues are able to come to work as their fabulous selves.”
But Ayton-Laplanche’s employer, Currys PC World, has insisted that it was a store-level misunderstanding in a statement shared with HuffPost UK.
“This was a local store level misunderstanding that is being dealt with internally. Scott takes pride in his appearance and Currys PC World is proud of its diverse workforce.”
Ayton-Laplanche’s Facebook post read: “Before I explain my frustrations, you need to bear in mind that... there isn’t any makeup policy at work.
“Also, a lot of my female colleagues wear more makeup than I do.”
He stated that this was not the first time he had worn makeup to work, but it was the first time he had been reprimanded, and he put this down to “new management”.
“I’ve been working here for about eight/nine months and I’ve never been reprimanded on my makeup before,” he wrote.
“Actually quite the opposite. Some mangers have supported me and complimented my makeup. However recently we’ve had to go under new management.
“Earlier on in the week I came to work as my fabulous self and was told to take off my makeup.
“I might understand if my hair was dyed bright red (oh which some of my colleagues have).
“I might understand if I had bright blue eye liner on (oh which some of my colleagues do).
“I might understand if I came to work with bright green lipstick on (I’d be worried if any of my colleagues did) (btw every colleague’s looking fabulous with their own look- I’m just illustrating my point).
“But guess what, this is 2017, a time of year where we celebrate Pride throughout summer and I look hella hot so deal with it!
“It’s wrong to blatantly discriminate for whatever reason that may be.”
Ayton-Laplanche’s post was shared more than 3,000 times within five days of being posted on 6 July and he got plenty of support from commenters.
“Looking fabulous, freedom of expression,” wrote one. “Don’t let them get you down.”
Another added: “Clearly new management don’t understand how on fleek your brows are. You do what you do, you fabulous specimen.”