An MP is calling for a boycott of shops that ban staff from wearing Poppies.
The row erupted after staff at cosmetics firm Bodycare were threatened with disciplinary action for wearing Poppies because they are "not part of their uniform".
A worker at one store told how she was humiliated and ordered to remove a Poppy that she had pinned to her lapel.
The Bodycare chain employs over 1600 staff nationwide, and has an annual turnover of #123 million pounds.
But it has emerged that the high streen giant Bodycare is not the only national store to ban staff from wearing Poppies.
According to the British Legion the Bodycare ban is only the tip of the iceberg of stores that ban staff from wearing Poppies in their employee regulations.
Bodycare worker Catherine Barr told of her dismay when she was ordered to remove her poppy at the branch in Wigan, Lancs.
Catherine, 49, said: "I turned up for work wearing my Poppy and was told by management I couldn't wear it for work.
"I was gobsmacked. I refused to remove it. I was quite upset and really annoyed.
"There were customers there and they were just as shocked as I was. I can't imagine a single person would agree with this.
"I have worn a Poppy every year I have worked here, but apparently I should not have.
"Because I refused to take it off, they called the area manager and they came down and I had a meeting with them.
"In the end, I still had to remove it, otherwise I was facing the prospect of a disciplinary hearing.
"I wasn't asking Bodycare to support it, I was just asking to be able to wear a Poppy for work."
Bodycare said its policy extends to all "charity pins" but armed services veterans and the British Legion condemned the ban.
But Labour MP Rosie Cooper said that bans of shop staff wearing Poppies is "disgraceful".
West Lancashire Labour MP Rosie Cooper said: "The Poppy Appeal holds a very special place in the hearts and minds of the nation and a ban on wearing a Poppy has to be challenged on all occasions.
"I would suggest that a public boycott of stores that ban staff from wearing Poppies is the correct answer.
"That is the quickest and most effective way to send the message to the managements that the public do not condone such policies."
The Royal British Legion disclosed that a growing number of high street retailers ban staff from wearing poppies
A British Legion spokesman said: "The fact that is that Bodycare are not alone in this, it is not as unusual as people might think.
"We are never critical of businesses which decline to allow their staff to wear Poppies or Poppy collections on the premises.
"It is a matter of choice for companies to decide which charities they support and when."
A spokesman for GR and MM Blackledge, Bodycare's parent company, said: "Employees are only allowed to wear their uniform and charitable pins would not be considered part of the uniform and they would not be allowed to wear them."
*** Update - boydcare later withdrew their ban. See
http://www.clicklancashire.com/news/local-news/124108-lancashire-firm-scraps-ban-on-staff-wearing-poppies.html
julie chandler, macclesfield around 4 months ago