Employee Relations #2
Question: Bob, I noticed the question and your response about an employee who smells of smoke. My question is similar. We have an employee who our managing director constantly complains about. He complains that the employee has Body Odor. I do not smell it and neither do my peers but the managing director does and insists we fire the employee. No one is willing to speak up for fear of their own job. I’ve spoken with the employee who claims to shower daily and can’t imagine why he is being singled out by the boss. If I fire this employee as the managing director insists, will the company be liable – or should I urge my dir. to reconsider. Thanks David
FROM: DAVID
INDUSTRY UNKNOWN
RESPONSE:
David,
This is a difficult situation and one that appears that you have attempted to handle correctly by confronting the situation with the employee.
There are a number of things that you should consider before making a decision to terminate the employee. First, is that the managing director seems to be the only person who can detect the body odor but it does not seem to be bothering his individual’s co-workers. Another thing to consider is the national origin of this employee. If he is from another country, there may be customs or diet that may cause the person to have a distinctive aroma. These aromas may be offensive to some people, while others are not bothered in the least. You may be opening your company up for a discrimination charge.
I like to put myself in the position of the plaintiff’s attorney to see if I could “win” a case against the employer. It would not look good on the part of your company if you and all of your co-workers were deposed and asked under the penalty of perjury if you smelled body odor from this employee. If 10 people say they did not smell anything and the only person who did is the managing director, the preponderance of evidence is in the favor of the plaintiff and therefore, the only reason for termination is the protected class status of the employee.
One more thing is the concept of treating people with fairness and respect. By confronting him, you have probably already insulted him. If you fire him, you will add injury to the insult which makes people more inclined to get back at the employer by going to the EEOC or state fair employment agencies. It sounds like the other employees are already scared and the word about this guy is all over the place. How will the other employees view this termination? .
With all this said, if I were you, I would ask the managing director to reconsider.
Thanks for Asking Bob