Muslim cocktail waitress wins £3,000 after refusing to wear red dress

Fata Lemes, 33, was handed the payout even though a tribunal panel rejected her claim that the dress was "sexually revealing and indecent".

It concluded that the Bosnian Muslim held "views about modesty and decency which some might think unusual in Britain in the 21st century".

But it accepted that Miss Lemes genuinely believed that the short, low-cut dress was "disgusting" and made her look "like a prostitute".

Bosses at Rocket bar and restaurant in London's Mayfair should have made allowance for her feelings and their insistence that she wear the dress amounted to sexual harassment, it ruled.

The panel at Central London Employment Tribunal found that Miss Lemes "overstated" her trauma at being asked to wear the sleeveless dress that was open at the back.

It rejected Miss Lemes' claim that she was left with no choice but to walk out of her job after just eight days.

It branded her compensation claim of £20,000 – including £17,500 for hurt feelings - as "manifestly absurd". But it awarded her £2,919.95 for hurt feelings and loss of earnings.

Miss Lemes told the tribunal that she "might as well be naked" in the dress, adding: "I was brought up a Muslim and am not used to wearing sexually attractive clothes."

A photo of Miss Lemes on Facebook, however, shows her wearing a low cut T-shirt revealing her cleavage.

In its judgment, the panel ruled that restaurant group Spring & Greene, which owns the Rocket chain, must "take their victim as they find her".

It said of the dress: "It is clearly a garment for a girl or young woman. It is intended to, and does, show the curves of the body."

But the panel ruled that wearing the dress could not amount to "conduct of a sexual nature".

Miss Lemes told how she was pestered for sex by customers at the bar shortly after starting work in May last year.

She alleged that bosses ran Rocket "like a sex club" and allowed clients to think that "waitresses could be treated as prostitutes". The management denied her claims.

The panel ruled: "Her perception was that wearing the dress would make her feel as if she was on show, as if she was being presented as one of the attractions which the Rocket Bar was offering its customers.

"In our view that perception was legitimate and not unreasonable.".

It pointed out that a summer uniform of "brightly coloured, figure-hugging garb" had not been introduced for male waiting staff.

But the tribunal rejected Miss Lemes' claim of constructive dismissal.

Giving evidence, Miss Lemes, of Camden, north-west London, told the tribunal she had worked as a waitress for 14 years and was experienced in silver service.

She took the job at Rocket, earning £5.52 an hour plus a share of service charge and tips, to supplement her income as a photographer.

Miss Lemes said that on only her second shift two guests told her they were looking for a blonde "for one or more nights".

She initially wore a loose-fitting black linen shirt and trousers but a week into the job, she was given the new outfit, which she considered "physically revealing and openly sexual".

She said: "It was indecent. If you put this dress on, you might as well be naked. Everything finishes in the middle at the chest. It is open at the front and back. I did not want men looking at my body."

At the tribunal, the restaurant group produced photos of another waitress, Amanda Bjursten, wearing the dress in the bar and she modelled it at the tribunal hearing.

Despite her underwear being partially visible through the figure-hugging outfit in one of the photos, Swede Ms Bjursten said she was "completely comfortable" wearing it.

The bar's manager Luca Scanu denied the dress was designed to boost custom and tips from male clients by being "sexually inviting".

Miss Lemes left after informing Mr Scanu I am sorry but I cannot wear that dress'.

For her last shift, she wore her usual black outfit.

The company failed to pay Miss Lemes for any of her shifts but handed over £255 midway through the hearing at the suggestion of the tribunal panel.