In a news story from Anaova.com (11/24/05) a 32-year-old woman from Taboao da Serra sued for unfair dismissal because her former employer Planarc Company fired her for wearing high heels to workaccording to a local report from the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

The company’s lawyer said her choice of footwear was dangerous giving rise to a greater probability of her falling, injuring herself and potentially causing Planarc money. Simply put, he said, “She was an accident waiting to happen!”

Nevertheless, an industrial tribunal ruled that although the company could sanction her in some manner, it did not have the right to fire her. It was ordered to hire the unnamed woman back.

I tried my best to find some statistics to back up the likelihood of causing self-injury in heels. I managed to find a site from the UK for The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA). I verified the ROSPA’s statistical database and found based on reports of admissions to accident and emergency services from 2002, there were just over 8500 accidents from the wearing of high heels. The previous years of 2001 and 2000 injury reports exceeded 10 000 and 19 000 respectively.

However, I also found a myriad number of sites proclaiming the more mundane problems caused by prolonged wearing of heels, like lower back pain and bunions, etc. In the long run, it seems that like everything else in life that’s sexy, there is a certain risk involved but according to wikipedia.org, that’s part of the masochistic appeal. High heels hobble their victims making them more vulnerable to capture. However, for at least woman in Brazil, she might get caught but she can’t be fired!