In a victory for commonsense, Amrit Lalji, the lady who was sacked from her airport job for refusing to remove a nose stud that she wore as part of a Hindu marriage ritual has been reinstated (click here to see previous coverage).

Mrs Lalji wore the nose stud to her interview, and was not told that it would be any problem. It was only several months later that one of her bosses at British Airways started to make an issue about it.

Initially British Airways had said that for 'health and safety' reasons no piercing apart from earrings were to be allowed at work, and therefore dismissed Mrs Lalji from the job which she had held for several months.

However, representatives of BA later admitted that the rules had been misread and misapplied, because Mrs Lalji was not involved in catering sector, to which these rules were designed. In talks with union GMB, who were representing Mrs Lalji, it was agreed that she should be reinstated without delay.