How far should a dress code go when the workplace itself feels like an oven?

Working in a kitchen comes with a lot of struggles and discomfort. It can be a rewarding job from time to time, especially if you like cooking, but it is hard to keep up with the temperatures. That’s why it’s important that restaurants have a good setup for the workers to be at ease and can focus on the food, and not on how they are feeling.

My sister used to work in a front desk on a burger place, and during summer, she would get extremely hot that the costumers often decided not to eat there because it look dirty. She had to talk to the owners and explained how not having an AC, or even a fan, is affecting the business. They understood and decided to purchase two: one for the reception and one for the kitchen.

The kitchen worker who shared the issue he had with his manager didn’t know how to cope with the extreme heat and had to take extreme measures. He has to wear a specific uniform: pants and a polo shirt. The polo seems fine, but not in a kitchen that’s full of hot oil and a broken AC. The temperature of that kitchen was almost 97ºF! Can you imagine?

He asked his boss if he could change his shirt for a thinner one, and the manager told him that the uniform policy has to be respected and to «just deal» with the heat. Seems everyone else was hot, then everyone had to keep that thick shirt on and finish the shift. Of course, this was impossible to do, and he felt it was affecting the food.

The only thing he did was turn the shirt upside down and try to dry it for a bit. The manager didn’t like this, and instead of sending him home to change, he wrote up the employee for bending the uniform policy… in a kitchen with no AC and almost 100ºF. I wouldn’t care, honestly, if it helped me feel better during my workday.