COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

How to clear the air without raising a stink

Here's what The Washington Post carried:

A woman from India who immigrated here eight years ago works in our office. While her personality is somewhat aggravating, the real problem is her lack of hygiene. To put it simply, she smells foul, and as the day and the week progress it ripens to the point the whole room is putrid. It is apparent she does not launder her clothing after wearing nor does she use deodorant. A number of people in our office have reported the problem to our company's human resources department, but nothing happens. I think they do not know how to address the problem. The rest of us are afraid to tell her directly for fear of violating some law, since she is a minority. So we continue to suffer.

Is there any way the problem can be addressed, or is this one of those situations where we are stuck because American laws permit it?

The Post'sreply:

This question stinks, but somebody's got to deal with it.

First off, there's nothing illegal about being irritated by poor personal hygiene, regardless of the nationality or sex of the person emitting the fumes. Foul smells can hurt productivity as employees seek to avoid contact with problem co-workers, they can hurt camaraderie, and they can spoil an organization's professional image. Companies usually try to head off problems before they arise by establishing dress and grooming codes that spell out to workers how they are supposed to look and smell when they are on the job.

Usually the human resources department gets the unenviable task of tactfully raising the issue with the offending worker or coaching the employee's supervisor about how to do it, said Deborah Keary, director of the personnel-questions hot line for the Society for Human Resource Management. She said it's a chore that many people would seek to avoid because it's likely to be a painful exchange, with the worker left feeling angry and humiliated. Nevertheless, it's part of the job, she said.

"I think the HR department has dropped the ball" in this case, Keary said.

This letter also illustrates the widespread misunderstandings about federal anti-discrimination laws. All they specifically forbid is bias in hiring and promoting workers or unfair treatment of workers because of their race, sex, physical handicaps, age, religion or nationality -- and they say nothing about deodorant.

"There's nothing in the laws we enforce that prevents an employer from telling an employee that his hygiene is not what it should be, and that he needs to improve it," said Dianna Johnston, assistant legal counsel to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws. "Some people mistakenly believe minorities can get away with anything. No! [ Employers] are only not supposed to discriminate against them. They can set work rules for everybody, and everybody needs to follow them."

The issue can be somewhat murkier if a health issue is involved. Some medical conditions can cause people to have an unusual smell, and some people who are suffering from depression or other mental illness might fail to bathe regularly. In those cases, employers may want to provide counselling services through an employee assistance program.

Another possible exception could be participation in an unusual religious sect -- but a spokeswoman for the Indian embassy said she knows of no group in India that could advise its followers not to use deodorant. The spokeswoman said she, too, would be embarrassed and offended by someone who failed to maintain good grooming standards, but she said it's up to her co-workers to kindly tell the woman before she becomes an object of ridicule.

"I think a lady, in a nice way, should tell her," she said.

Tell us what you think of this report