UK: Is it legal to force women to wear high heels at work?

Appropriation!

(BBC) - A 27-year-old woman working for a City firm in London says she was sent home for refusing to wear high heels. But is this legal, fair or healthy?

Nicola Thorp says she was laughed at when she told her bosses that she didn't want to wear high heels on her first day as a corporate receptionist.

"I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet escorting clients to meeting rooms. I said I just won't be able to do that in heels," she told the BBC.

She had arrived at the accountancy firm PwC wearing flats and she says she was told to go home without pay unless she went out and bought heels that were between two and four inches high. She refused and alleges Portico - the firm that runs PwC's reception at its office in Embankment, central London - followed through with its threat.

Now Thorp has set up a petition to the government, demanding "women have the option to wear flat formal shoes at work". It has picked up more than 7,000 signatures. The petition says the law as it stands is "outdated and sexist".