女接待员因拒穿高跟鞋被打发回家

A London receptionist was sent home from work after refusing to wear high heels, it has emerged.
近日，一名伦敦接待员因拒穿高跟鞋而被打发回家。

Temp worker Nicola Thorp, 27, from Hackney, arrived at finance company PwC to be told she had to wear shoes with a "2in to 4in heel".
来自伦敦东部哈克尼区的27岁临时工尼古拉•索普到金融公司PwC（普华永道）上班，却被告知她必须穿鞋跟高度在2英寸到4英寸的高跟鞋。

When she refused and complained male colleagues were not asked to do the same, she was sent home without pay.
当她拒穿高跟鞋并抱怨公司没有对男同事做出同样要求时，公司一分钱没给就把她打发回家了。

Ms Thorp said she would have struggled to work a full day in high heels and had asked to wear the smart flat shoes she had worn to the office in Embankment.
索普女士说，穿高跟鞋工作一整天太痛苦，所以她要求穿自己在堤坝站的工作地点穿的时髦的平底鞋。

But instead she was told she should go and buy a pair of heels on her first day, back in December.
然而，在去年12月份她上班的第一天，她却被告知她应该去买一双高跟鞋来穿。

"I said 'if you can give me a reason as to why wearing flats would impair me to do my job today, then fair enough', but they couldn't," Ms Thorp told BBC.
索普女士告诉BBC说：“我说‘如果你们能给我一个理由，告诉我为什么穿平底鞋会妨碍我今天做我的工作，那我才服气’，但是他们说不出理由。”

"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'."
“我本来要走来走去地值9个小时的班，陪同客户到会议室去。我说‘我穿高跟鞋没法站那么久’。”

Ms Thorp said she asked if a man would be expected to do the same shift in heels, and was laughed at.
索普女士说，她当时发问，公司是否也指望一个男人穿着高跟鞋来值同样的班，结果被嘲笑了。

She then spoke to friends about what had happened, and after posting on Facebook realised that other women had found themselves in the same position.
她把发生的事情告诉了朋友，还在Facebook上发帖，这时她才意识到其他女性的处境也和她一样。

She has since set up a petition calling for the law to be changed so women cannot be forced to wear high heels to work. It has had more than 10,000 signatures, so the government will now have to respond.
从那以后她就发起了一个请愿活动，要求修改法律，让女性不必被迫穿高跟鞋上班。请愿书上的签名已经超过1万个，所以政府现在不得不做出回应。

As the law stands, employers can dismiss staff who fail to live up to "reasonable" dress code demands, as long as they've been given enough time to buy the right shoes and clothes.
根据现行法律，雇主可以解雇不遵守“合理”的着装规范的员工，只要给了他们足够的时间去购买合适的鞋子和衣服。

They can set up different codes for men and women, as long as there's an "equivalent level of smartness".
公司可以给男性和女性设定不同的着装规范，只要男女着装“同样精神”就行。

"I think dress codes should reflect society and nowadays women can be smart and formal and wear flat shoes." Ms Thorp said.
索普女士说：“我认为着装规范应该反映出社会环境，现如今女性穿平底鞋也可以时髦又正式。”

"Aside from the debilitating factor, it's the sexism issue. I think companies shouldn't be forcing that on their female employees."
“除了穿高跟鞋折磨人之外，还有性别歧视问题。我认为公司不应该强迫女员工穿高跟鞋。”

Vocabulary

temp worker: 临时工
debilitate: 使衰弱；使虚弱