A Halifax brewpub is throwing its support behind its employees and their right to dress as they choose after some customers complained about a server’s crop top.

Jillian Bernier has been serving in the taproom at Good Robot Brewing Company since it opened last December and has been wearing crop tops, which show her bare stomach, over the past few months.

“It’s just what I’m most comfortable in,” says Bernier. “It’s kind of known as my style amongst my friends and family.”

When she’s not working in the taproom, she’s working in the brewery, and says it can get pretty hot as the brewing process tends to heat up the whole building.

But that hasn’t stopped some patrons from complaining to Bernier and her managers about her belly-baring crop tops.

“Oh, she’s naked, oh, she should put some clothes on, oh, isn’t she really cold? When really, it’s just comfortable,” says Bernier.

Co-manager Josh Counsil says the owners and managers were both puzzled and disturbed by the comments as they want people to be free to be exactly who they are, right down to the non-gender-specific washrooms.

“We don’t have a dress code here. Our staff here can tell you, other than the basics, wear something that’s not going to get beer on it,” says Counsil. “No heels and no Metallica T-shirts.”

The company posted a message on Facebook Wednesday, showing its support for Bernier and her love of crop tops.

“Jill wears what she wears because it makes her happy. And if Jill’s happy, we’re happy,” the post reads.

 

But the support doesn’t end there. The brewpub has declared Friday CroToTo Day – or Crop Top Tolerance Day – and is encouraging both patrons and staff, men included, to wear crop tops in solidarity with Bernier.

“We thought it would be funny to do a solidarity day … to show that this isn’t something sexist that we’re applying to our female staff. I’m not a guy who is particularly proud of my body, but slap a crop top on and it’s not so bad,” says Counsil.

“We wanted to show that there’s enough problems in western society with body image as it is, so wear what you like.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw