MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • HR DEEP DIVES
        • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for HR Professionals
          Employment Law
          Labor Law Posting Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
          Recruiting
          businesswoman selecting future employees on digital interfaces
          Recruiting Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
          Performance Management
          vector image of young female making star rating
          Performance Review Resources
          Employment Law
          Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity and the EEOC
          Recruiting
          Onboarding Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
  • CORONAVIRUS & HR

  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

HR Morning

MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • HR DEEP DIVES
        • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for HR Professionals
          Employment Law
          Labor Law Posting Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
          Recruiting
          businesswoman selecting future employees on digital interfaces
          Recruiting Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
          Performance Management
          vector image of young female making star rating
          Performance Review Resources
          Employment Law
          Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity and the EEOC
          Recruiting
          Onboarding Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
  • CORONAVIRUS & HR
  • Employment Law
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting
  • Talent Management
  • Performance Management
  • HR Technology
  • More
    • Leadership & Strategy
    • Compensation
    • Staff Administration
    • Policy & Procedures
    • Wellness
    • Staff Departure
    • Employee Services
    • Work Location
    • HR Career & Self-Care
    • Health Care
    • Retirement Plans

Good deed punished: Firm didn't do enough to accommodate scent-sensitive worker

Tim Gould
by Tim Gould
June 19, 2015
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

Just how far do employers have to bend to provide a scent-sensitive employee a reasonable accommodation? You won’t believe what a federal judge just ruled.  
Christine Brady was a credit manager for United Refrigeration in Pennsylvania. She told her employer she had a long-term “heightened sensitivity to perfumes, fragrant chemicals and lotions.”
After being under a doctor’s care for some time — and treating her sensitivity through medication — Brady’s condition apparently worsened. She asked United’s HR department “if there is a way to have a fragrance free zone or [if she] could be placed in a fragrance free area.”
The employer responded. Here’s attorney Erric B. Mayer’s rundown of the steps the company took:

  • Purchased a portable air cleaner for use at the plaintiff’s work station
  • Purchased a second portable air cleaner for the plaintiff after she broke the first one
  • Distributed — several times — a notice to all employees not to wear perfume, cologne or aftershave to the office
  • Purchased face masks for the plaintiff (which she later refused to wear)
  • Relocated an employee who had to wear medically-prescribed skin lotion
  • Cleaned a wall panel that plaintiff claimed had fragrances on it
  • Cleaned the rug around the plaintiff’s workstation, and
  • Cleaned the rug around the plaintiff’s workstation — again.

The company also relocated her desk “out of the main stream” and sent her a memo assuring Brady that United “takes your sensitivity seriously.”
But Brady still had a hard time maintaining regular attendance at work. She was finally laid off. In a letter, the firm explained that “… [a]fter what we consider to be extraordinary efforts to accommodate you, you have still not been able to … report to work regularly, which we need you to do. We do not have work available that meets all of your restrictions. Accordingly … you are being laid off.”
And then, of course, she sued. Brady claimed that United’s ban on fragrances wasn’t enforced strictly enough, and that the company violated the ADA by firing her.

Absenteeism as accommodation?

She couldn’t possibly win, right? After all the company did to accommodate her disability?
Well, she won the first round — the court indicated that despite all the steps it took, the company may not have done enough.
The court’s reasoning:

[Brady’s] circumstances do not involve unexplained absences; rather, [her] condition is triggered by stimuli that are at least somewhat within [United’s] power to control. If [United’s] own no-fragrance policies are not being sufficiently administered or enforced, as [Brady] alleges, [United] may have to accept that [Brady] must take some time away from that environment.

Huh? So unless a firm’s policies are perfectly enforced, absenteeism is a reasonable form of accommodation? Pretty tough call for this employer.
Now the company faces an expensive trial or an expensive settlement.
The case is Brady v. United Refrigeration, Inc.

Get the latest from HRMorning in your inbox PLUS immediately access 10 FREE HR guides.

I WANT MY FREE GUIDES

Keep Up To Date with the Latest HR News

With HRMorning arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on labor laws, benefits, retention and onboarding strategies.

Sign up for a free HRMorning membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
HR Morning Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linked In
  • ABOUT HRMORNING
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Employment Law
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting
  • Talent Management
  • HR Technology
  • Performance Management
  • Leadership & Strategy
  • Compensation & Payroll
  • Policy & Culture
  • Staff Administration
  • Wellness & Safety
  • Staff Departure
  • Employee Services
  • Work Location
  • HR Career & Self-Care

HRMorning, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest HR and employment law news for HR professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, HRMorning delivers actionable insights, helping HR execs understand what HR trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

During your free trial, you can cancel at any time with a single click on your “Account” page.  It’s that easy.

Why do we need your credit card for a free trial?

We ask for your credit card to allow your subscription to continue should you decide to keep your membership beyond the free trial period.  This prevents any interruption of content access.

Your card will not be charged at any point during your 21 day free trial
and you may cancel at any time during your free trial.

preloader