Another perfume lawsuit is in the works:
An employee in the Detroit planning department who claims she is severely sensitive to perfumes and other cosmetics has sued the city, saying a co-worker’s strong fragrance prohibits her from working. [...]
”This employee not only wore a strong scent, but also plugged in a scented room deodorizer,” the lawsuit states. ”Ms. McBride was overcome by the smell almost instantly, causing her to go home sick.”
Read the rest in the New York Times.
5 Comments
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Room deodorisers are EVIL. My smoking ex-land lord had an electric one (a little box plugged into a socket) to overpower the smell of the smoke. Eventually she couldn't even smell it but it drove me nuts. I think they must be bad for your health, if only psychologically… I would sue my employee for such a thing. They should be banned. Just *•°^x#*ing open the window! But then I heard in the States it's sometimes not that easy…
I understand that scent is a matter of taste and the general (often unspoken) rule in most work environments is “very subtle or nilch”.
However, this account seems like a gross missuse of legal power. She seriously couldn't have resolved this outside of the courts? Communication in that office must be poor beyond comparison. Perhaps the worker refused to remove the scent or their supervisor never brought it up; either way, using the law should always be thought of as a last resort or the system loses credibility. Too many people forget this.
Most new buildings don't have windows that open, but have to agree on the plug in air fresheners…stale air might actually be better.
It is always hard to tell from the minimal information we get from the press in these cases whether the lawsuit is frivolous or not.
I am so with you on this one nlb. This whole culture of sueing people is just plain daft. I think the majority of people only sue because of the bucks involved. Well, that seems to be our culture…