Employers working for online fashion retailer Boohoo.com risk getting fired for smiling or checking their mobile phones, an investigation by Channel 4 has found. The investigation comes after online fashion retailer Asos was accused last year of exploitative working practises with staff reportedly unable to take regular water and toilet breaks for fears of missing targets. The company denied those allegations. Working conditions at Boohoo, which posted a 55 per cent jump in sales to £114.3m over the four months to December, were exposed as part of an investigation conducted for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme into Britain’s cheap clothing industry. The investigation suggests contracts can be terminated after three strikes – often for minor infringements. Workers claimed they had been given a strike for things like checking the time on their mobile or showing up five minutes late for work.
