Hello,

I have been employed with the same company for nearly two years. I work in a small office inside a warehouse and there are only 4 other employees. The administrator, the warehouse manager, a driver and a warehouse technician. In the past few weeks I have become allergic to the colognes and deodrants used by these men. I become asthmatic and cannot breath.

The administrator understands, as his wife also has the same fragrance allergies, and two of my co-workers seem to be at least understanding of the situation. But the warehouse manager is not. When the administrator is gone, he is the acting supervisor and this last Friday I told him I was having problems and I opened the door to our little office and turned on the air unit to help flush out the fragrance that had built up in the office causing my asthma attack.

For the two years I've worked here I have never smelled fragrance on the warehouse manager. But ever since I had my first attack from the driver's cologne, the warehouse manager seems to be wearing enough that I can smell it. Or, I have just become so sensitive that I can smell it when I never did before. However, irregardless of this fact, he, acting as supervisor told me I could not flush out the office room. I had to leave the door open without the air on, or the door closed with the air off. He said I needed to find a different job than public relations if I had a problem with perfumes. I told him there was a big difference in standing out in the warehouse where fans are blowing and the huge overhead door is open and I'm only next to a customer with perfume for less than a minute than being closed in an office with a build up of fragrances I am allergic to. He told me I could crack the window an inch.

Meanwhile, the breakroom door stands wide open most of the day while the air unit in there is blowing.

I feel that his actions as a supervisor were inexcusable as his demands that I not flush out the room were a direct hazard to my health. I had work to do, but I had to stand outside with my inhaler waiting until I could go back in to do my work. This isn't right and I want to know what the laws are regarding health hazard in the workplace.

His reason was that he has been wearing his deodrant for forty years. He claims he isn't wearing any more of it than usual. However to me, this is irrelevant, my immune system has developed an asthmatic allergic reaction to the fragrances worn by these men. I don't know why all of a sudden now I'm allergic when I wasn't before. I am waiting for my doctors report on why this occurs, but as I explained to him, I wasn't allergic to cats for the first 30 years of my life and then one day, I just was.

However, to me, this is all irrelevant. If a worker is having difficulty breathing due to fragrances and tells their supervisor, the supervisor should act in the better interest of the workers health, not demand they work in a closed room where the worker is most likely to have a full blown asthmatic attack.

Smokers are banned from smoking in offices due to health risk to other employees. Fragrances should be banned as well. There are plenty of fragrance free deodorizers that can be worn to work, and fragrances can be used outside the office. I have always had problems with fragrances, but it is only now that the problem is developing into asthma attacks and I need to know what my rights are. I don't want to quit my job, I like my job. And if they fire me, where am I going to find work with an allergy to fragrance such as I have?

What are the South Carolina laws regarding employee health safety in the workplace. Do I have a right to ask these men to stop wearing their fragrances?

Thank you,
Pmja

What you describe isn't a workplace safety issue; your situation falls under a federal law, the Americans with Disabilites Act (ADA.) Asssuming your asthma is severe enough to constitute a disability under that law, then the employer is obligated to consider making a reasonable accommodation that will allow you to perform the essential functions of your job.

Asking other employees to stop wearing fragrance and to switch to a fragrance-free deodorant is completely reasonable. So is turning on the A/C in your office, opening a window, or otherwise airing out the room if and when the smell of various fragrances become too strong. None of these cost your employer any money (or barely so), so they'd have an impossible time saying that these options weren't possible because they aren't reasonable.

Two thoughts: (1) the "acting" supervisor is on a little power trip and is saying "no" to all your requests just cause he can, or (2) he knows squat about employment laws. (Perhaps it's a combination of both.)

Do your company have an HR department? If so, I urge you to contact them immediately and explain the situation. If not, then I suggest you contact someone in more senior management, explain the situation, and tell them you are requesting a reasonable accommodation under the ADA - which really is just to be able to open a window/door and turn the fan or AC on when you feel the need in order to avoid having an asthma attack.

Thank you Beth.

On Monday when the administrator came back I told him I wanted to file a formal complaint against the warehouse manager for how he handled the situation. I told him what happened and he said we'd have a meeting.

So, then we had our meeting. I know he talked with the warehouse manager before our meeting to get his side of things, which is fair. However, the meeting turned into being all about my asthma/allergies and not about the warehouse managers actions, which was my complaint.

They asked if I had told them when I was hired that I had asthma, or if they had told me that the warehouse personnel would be wearing deodorants. I had only had a couple hours sleep on Sunday, and didn't realize how off the meeting was until last night, when I was thinking about the 'meeting notes' I had to sign.

Now, the meeting notes, I ended up writing all over it, and re-wrote my complaint on the back of it, because the meeting notes were not about MY complaint, but about my allergy and that they all agreed I could air out the room.

So, yes, I'm happy I can air out the room, but I would have done so even without their consent...... but I am UNhappy about the way the whole thing was turned around on me. They even wrote in the notes that the warehouse manager would not hold a grudge. HUH? Why would he? I didn't 'do' anything to him...... it was HIS actions that the complaint was about and what the meeting was to BE about.

Anyway, made a copy of the meeting notes that I signed and is going into the warehouse managers file. And I plan on typing up all my handwritten comments along with how I feel about this whole thing having been somehow turned away from my complaint to being about me. The administrator even said in the meeting that the 'boy who cries wolf' impression could be given here, regarding my asthma attacks. HUH? Later, I asked him about that. I told him I didn't understand the comment or what it meant. He replied about the story of it, briefly, and then just said that that wasn't what HE was saying, but that it could be an impression given.

Lots of *** covering..... because I've never had an asthma attack or claimed not being able to breathy EVER in the two years I've been there.

Tonight I am tired of it and don't want to think of it anymore. I haven't been sleeping but 2 to 3 hours a night due to 'thinking' about this.. I just can't seem make it any clearer to them no matter HOW I say it. The meeting turned into being about ME rather than about my complaint.

Good news, is I ended up talking to someone who is sort of HR in the home base of our company (we are a small branch) and she said I should type up the comments I made on the meeting notes and submit them. And that she could answer my questions IF I asked her specifically about it. But she was supportive, I don't know why she wouldn't just offer up information, perhaps it's like a conflict of interest and I can understand that.

I'm going to try to get good sleep tonight and tomorrow write up my comments and re-state my complaint (which i did on the back of the meeting notes page) and submit in on Thursday. I hope that isn't 'too late'... as I am just TOO tired to do anything anymore tonight.

If you have any suggestions to what I am already doing I appreciate that. BTW..... No, I am not interested in keeping at this, like picking at a scab and continuing to make it bleed. I just want to KNOW that my complaint was actually heard and something, even if just a reprimand was done..... instead of it landing all in my lap, because I didn't tell them about having asthma when I was hired.

I told him, if they'd asked I would have said no. In the meeting notes, he tried to attribute my asthma to my other allergies, I am allergic to my cats but not in an asthmatic way, it is a 'contact' allergy in my eyes. I have never had problems breathing around them. And in the notes he mis-quotes me numerous times. Ergh! I am just so mad when I think about it.

When I submit my comments in writing, perhaps I should state why I'm submitting it 3 days after the meeting.

Thank you again for your time and knowledge. (and I apologize if this rambles a bit, but I am deadbeat tired)

Pmja