A RENTED nurse's fancy dress outfit cost a British company more than £100,000 after a promotional stunt went wrong.

It was just one of a number of controversial sex discrimination claims handled by law firm Wacks Caller last year which could have big implications for East Lancashire businesses.

And according to employment law partner Paul Stedman, the case looks likely to set the agenda for 2003 as "the politically correct police go bananas."

"The Sex Discrimination Act is breached daily, if not hourly, by hundreds of managers and employers," he said. "In this instance, a female employee was apparently perfectly happy to parade around in a nurse's outfit in a mainly male environment, but then suddenly hit her employer with a sex discrimination claim."

He said anything that might be considered to offend could spark a sex discrimination claim.Paul said: "The big problem is that it is a subjective and constantly moving target. What may offend one employee might not offend another, yet an employee's mood and inclination to take action may change."

Employers are being warned that failing to implement a comprehensive sexual discrimination policy will leave them exposed to potentially expensive and damaging claims from employees.

Paul added: "The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to treat people differently in the work-place because of their sex, with claimants having to prove, in court, they had been discriminated against.

"However, since October 2001, the burden of proof has been on employers, who have to show that they didn't discriminate and this has led to an increase in the number of cases going to tribunals.

"The Sex Discrimination Act is breached daily. This may take the form of applying impractical recruitment prerequisites such as unrealistic height, stature and appearance standards, failure to pay both sexes equally for identical jobs and sexual harassment allegations.

"But the most difficult allegations can focus on massively subjective issues such as, say, a male employee's page-three girl screen-saver inadvertently glimpsed by a female member of staff, or even one of the currently fashionable 'blonde jokes'.

"While some employers have taken advice and tightened up on recruitment and pay and conditions issues, many still don't realise they can be held responsible for the actions of their employees.

"Currently, employment tribunals can award uncapped damages for breaches of sex discrimination legislation, meaning that employers who fail to apply proper procedures - which should be communicated to all staff and strictly enforced - do so at their peril as they stakes can be very high."