Telling women to wear make-up at work IS sexual harassment, tribunal rules after female boss at swanky Soho restaurant Tattu told waitress she looked ‘tired and unpresentable’ and should put some on

• Jahnayde Henry, 24, quit her job at Tattu restaurant in Soho after five shifts 
• She says her ‘draconian’ boss at the London venue told her to wear make-up

Telling women to wear make-up at work counts as sex harassment and is a comment that would not normally be directed at men, a tribunal judge has said.

Advising a female member of staff to ‘improve’ how they look through the use of make-up creates a ‘humiliating environment’ for her, Employment Judge Andrew Glennie suggested.

The employment tribunal ruling came after a waitress at high-end Chinese restaurant Tattu in central London was told by her boss she looked ‘tired and unpresentable’ and to wear make-up for her next shift.

Jahnayde Henry, 24, said her self-esteem was ‘undermined’ by the comment from Tattu’s deputy manager Joanna Huang, who was described as ‘almost military’ in her approach to discipline.

The central London restaurant – described by one reviewer as ‘somewhere the Kardashians would enjoy’ – boasts spectacular views of the capital’s skyline.

Jahnayde Henry, 24, said her self-esteem was ‘undermined’ after deputy manager Joanna Huang (pictured) told her to wear make-up for her next shift at Tattu Chinese restaurant in central London

Tattu restaurant – described by one reviewer as ‘somewhere the Kardashians would enjoy’ – boasts spectacular views of the capital’s skyline

READ MORE: FEMALE CITY WORKER WHOSE BOSS TOLD HER ‘IF I HAD BREASTS LIKE YOURS I’D BE MORE DEMANDING’ WINS £1.2 MILLION PAYOUT 

Opened in 2022, its Instagram-friendly menu includes dishes such as green pepper lobster for £79 and Japanese wagyu beef for £105. The ‘Emperor’s Choice’ tasting menu costs £175 per person.

The hearing in central London was told that Ms Henry had two weeks training in March last year ahead of the restaurant’s opening.

The panel heard ‘very strict’ and ‘draconian’ Ms Huang was someone who ‘likes discipline’ and ‘always wants 100 per cent’.

She was referred to as ‘scrupulously fair’ but would ‘annoy you every day until you get better’.

On the first night of the restaurant’s opening, Ms Huang told Ms Henry her voice sounded ‘bland or boring’ and that she should try to ‘liven it up’ while serving customers.

In the following shift she worked, Ms Henry was then ‘criticised’ about how effectively she was working and she would have to do better ‘if she was going to make it as a server at Tattu’.

Ms Henry told the tribunal she was ‘checked and criticised every three minutes’ of her 12 hour shifts – although the tribunal ruled this was a ‘figure of speech’ rather than a literal description of the number of times she was admonished.

However, the panel found Ms Huang would have still ‘frequently’ checked on Ms Henry in order to ‘maintain high standards’ she demanded of her staff.

Opened in 2022, Tattu’s Instagram-friendly menu includes dishes such as green pepper lobster for £79 and Japanese wagyu beef for £105. The ‘Emperor’s Choice’ tasting menu costs £175 per person

The tribunal heard Ms Huang told Ms Henry she looked ‘tired and unpresentable’ at the beginning of one shift and next time she came to work, she ‘should wear make-up’.

Although Ms Huang denied this, the panel found she had made such a comment, after hearing ‘observations about make-up were not unknown amongst [Tattu]’s managers’.

After just five shifts, Ms Henry resigned from her role in April 2022, claiming she had been left in tears after being ‘bullied’ by a manager at work.

‘I honestly just think that at this time Tattu is not a place that I want to continue working,’ she wrote.

Ms Henry – who is black – then unsuccessfully sued the restaurant for race discrimination and harassment.

However, her claim of sex harassment regarding the makeup comment was upheld.

Judge Glennie said: ‘Having found that Ms Huang made the comment alleged by [Ms Henry], we accepted that this was unwanted by her,’ he said.

‘We then considered whether this amounted to conduct related to sex.

‘We concluded that saying that an individual looked “tired and unpresentable'”was not related to sex, as that could equally be said to a man.

‘In the Tribunal’s judgement, saying that next time, the individual should wear some make-up, is a sex-specific comment, in that – although it is not unknown for men to wear make-up – it is not a comment that would ordinarily be made to a man.

‘As to its effect, we found that [Ms Henry] perceived the comment as creating a humiliating environment for her, in that it meant that she should try to ‘improve’ her appearance with the use of make-up.

‘We also found that it was reasonable that the comment had this effect: it would tend to undermine her self-esteem.’

Ms Henry’s compensation will be decided at a later date.

According to its website Tattu – which also has branches in Manchester and Birmingham – offers customers an ‘elevated dining experience’ in ‘opulent surroundings’.

‘Tattu London has been designed with the utmost respect for superb craftsmanship and in pursuit of providing the finest experiential dining.

‘Classic artistry is reunited with cutting edge techniques, giving way to a venue that is equally as elegant as it is elevated.’

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