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Handling Body Odor

Who's going to tell her? - handling employees with body odors - includes related article in the causes of body odor

Carolyn Hirschman
When an employee has a problem with body odor, it usually falls to HR to address the situation with tact - and a firm grasp of the potential legal pitfalls.

It was the situation no one wanted to deal with. A female employee of a Washington, D.C., publishing company worked in the marketing department ... and she smelled.

"Her body odor was just palpable," detectable from two feet away, recalls Chris Schrader, who worked in the organization's human resources department at the time. "As the complaints came to me, I realized I had to deal with this myself."

A rare situation? Hardly. Some career HR managers deal with offensive body odor as often as once or twice a year. It happens in all sorts of settings, from factories to offices, and in various industries.

"It's an every-year occurrence," says one manager who's been employed in HR for 18 years and now works at a high-tech company in Columbus, Ohio. "It runs the full spectrum from perspiration to armpit odor to cologne." (This manager, like several others interviewed for this article, requested anonymity for fear of embarrassing employers and employees.)

What's more, when body odor problems do arise, most HR managers find themselves flying solo. "When it comes up, it's like you're reinventing the wheel," says Norris Dodge, owner of HR Masters Inc., a human resources consulting firm in Baltimore, Md. "It's something most HR manuals don't address."

Another complication is that supervisors rarely want to get involved. And offending employees can't be counted on to solve the problem themselves because they often don't realize it exists.

That usually leaves it up to HR to remedy what is at best an embarrassing situation and at worst a potential discrimination claim. Legal tangles, although rare, can arise. For example, if an employee's body odor is caused by a medical condition and you don't deal with it correctly, you might run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Similarly, criticizing an ethnic diet that causes BO could trigger a civil rights complaint under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Despite those potential risks - and the discomfort of dealing with such a sensitive topic - you cannot ignore the problem. Unresolved, the situation can reduce productivity if employees' ability to work together is affected. And if a worker with body odor deals face-to-face with customers, relationships and even sales could be hurt.

Direct but tactful

So how can you address this problem? Take a direct but tactful approach, suggest Schrader (now vice president of human resources at a Bloomington, Ind., greetingcard manufacturer) and other HR managers who've handled similar complaints.

Your first step should be to verify the legitimacy of co-workers' complaints. Spend a little time with the worker in question. Firsthand observation will reveal if the worker does indeed smell or is merely the victim of cruel teasing.

Schrader used another approach: He interviewed the female employee's co-workers to see if there were "ulterior motives." Sensing none, he asked them about probable causes; several people mentioned that the woman had no laundry facilities at home.

Next, Schrader approached the worker to discuss a "delicate" situation. In a private meeting, "I told her she had body odor that was offensive to other workers to the extent that it affected their ability to work with her." Although the gender difference made it awkward for him, "in the end, I felt like I had to come right out and say it."

The woman, who was unaware of the problem, was "mortified," Schrader recalls. He simply asked her to deal with the situation. From then on, she washed her clothes regularly "and that took care of it," he adds.

As in this situation, a straightforward conversation may be all that's needed to get offending workers to change their habits. Most workers take it upon themselves to solve, or at least minimize, the problem with more frequent bathing, clothes washing, or use of deodorant or antiperspirant.

In some cases, however, problems can arise. HR professionals who can anticipate the potential difficulties should be able to avoid them.

Dealing with the problem

What is the best way to address a body odor problem? Tread carefully, say those have who been there. Start by trying to verify the complaints, as Schrader did.

"Observe for yourself," advises one employee relations manager at a New Jersey telecommunications company. False alarms are possible, as this manager found when a supervisor came to her with complaints of a worker's BO. The manager started spending time directly with the worker but never detected a bad smell, so she let the issue drop. "I think people were being mean," she says, noting that the company's workforce is very young and relatively immature.

When offensive body odor is a real problem, someone - a direct supervisor but usually an HR manager - must talk to the worker privately and confidentially. "People are looking for the HR director to be the corporate cop, in this case the hygiene police," says HR Masters' Dodge.

HR managers stress the importance of a direct but sympathetic approach. The general tenor of the conversation should be something like, "Here's a problem. Your job's not at risk. Deal with it, please. Let me know if I can help."

In one case, a personnel administrator, who is now an equal opportunity manager with a state government, met with a woman and her supervisor in a private conference room at a Kansas manufacturing plant.

"The supervisor and I approached it from the matter of 'Something has come to our attention of which you may not be aware. There is a problem with body odor.' We tried to soft pedal it," the HR manager said. But, "We flat out told her to take care of it, and she cleaned up her act - literally."

Before "the talk," prepare responses to different outcomes, HR managers suggest. Hostile reactions are rare but can occur. The cause of body odor - which an HR manager shouldn't ask about, anyway - may be something totally different from what's assumed. (See the box below.)

"I try to be prepared for a couple of scenarios so I can be in control of the situation," says Schrader. "Don't assume people will dig in their heels, but be prepared if they do."

Don't ask, don't tell

You are better off not asking about the cause of body odor, HR managers say, because potential ADA and civil rights violations can crop up if the odor is caused by a medical condition or certain foods in the diet. Depending on the circumstances, some HR managers make specific suggestions for solving a body odor problem, but most make a generic offer of assistance and leave it up to the worker to do the right thing.

"Once you start trying to diagnose the problem, you could have trouble," says Ann Rose, HR manager at CDA Engineering Inc. in Troy, Mich.

How much trouble? Here's an example. In 1993, a female employee named Beatrice Shaw sued Citicorp Credit Services of San Mateo, Calif., for violating the ADA. Shaw claimed the company failed to reasonably accommodate her offensive body odor, which she claimed was caused by extreme sweating.

Shaw's previous supervisor had accommodated her by leaving her notes when it was time to go home and shower and allowing her to make up the time later. But her new supervisor gave her negative reviews and a final warning about being fired, according to the newsletter Daily Labor Report, published by the Bureau of National Affairs.

A federal jury found that Shaw's condition was not a disability protected by law, so Citicorp did not violate the ADA, the newsletter reported. The decision apparently was not appealed (Shaw v. Citicorp, D.C.N. CA #C93-3696, 1994).

In the Citicorp case, the company eventually prevailed in court. But, as an HR professional, your goal should be to keep your organization out of court. Some careful preparation may help you do just that.

Beware the ADA

If a worker volunteers that his or her body odor is caused by a medical condition, "stop talking," Schrader advises. Listen carefully but don't jump to conclusions, legal experts say.

Managers who are unclear about the ADA's requirements may want to consult an employment attorney. Otherwise, it is permissible to ask the worker to provide medical documentation, such as a letter from a doctor, proving that the medical condition causes BO.

If workers produce the requisite letters from their doctors, are they automatically protected by the law? Not necessarily. A medical condition that causes BO is "not the classic case by any means," says Michael C. Lynch, an employment attorney at the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, which is based in Pittsburgh.

Under the law, a disability is a chronic physical or mental impairment that "substantially limits one or more major life activities," including working. Employees may also be protected by the ADA if they have a record of impairment or if they are perceived as having a disability.

"The underlying issue is if people are doing their jobs perfectly well and they get body odor, does that change anything?" asks Peggy Mastroianni, an associate legal counsel at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission.

Employment law attorneys point out that even if employees' medical conditions are covered by the ADA, the employees may not be protected if they frequently come into contact with customers or the public. "You're not required to offend your customers," points out Henry Morris Jr., an attorney at Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn in Washington, D.C.

The ethnic diet

Another legal tripwire is body odor caused by diet. Again, experts advise against inquiring about the cause of BO. But if workers volunteer that they eat certain foods that cause the odor, steer clear of any mention of race, nationality or ethnicity, HR managers say. And don't ask workers to change their eating habits. Either action could violate Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

HR managers must "get beyond" cultural differences when it comes to hiring, says the employee relations manager in New Jersey. "You don't use it in any decision making. That's respecting diversity."

Employers in this position aren't obligated to accommodate the worker as they are under the ADA, Lynch says. "An HR professional should take a hands-off approach to what might be causing the odor and focus on the job," he adds. Asking the worker to "take care of it" is proper.

The best solution, HR managers agree, is to come up with a way around the problem, whether or not it is legally required. Possible accommodations include enclosure of the worker's office, use of a fan or other ventilation, use of antibacterial soaps and deodorants, visits to a doctor, and working from home.

FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS

Do's

* Try to observe the worker's body odor firsthand to confirm complaints. Meet with the worker one-on-one or invite the worker to participate on a committee or project.

* Discuss the problem with the worker privately, ensuring complete confidentiality. Meet in your office with the door closed or in a private conference room.

* Treat body odor like any other job-performance issue. Tell the employee there is a problem and that he or she should take care of it.

* Think about what you want to say ahead of time. Be prepared for different scenarios - such as a worker's defensive reaction or potential legal tangles.

* Offer appropriate help. Suggest seeing a doctor, showering more often or bringing a clean shirt to work, for example.

* Put an end to co-workers' teasing to avoid ostracizing the worker with body odor.

&

Don't's

* Ignore or dance around the problem, Be direct but tactful and sympathetic when discussing the problem with the worker.

* Make assumptions or inquire about the cause of body odor. Avoid discussing causes unless the worker volunteers information.

* Mention cultural differences, such as diet, that could trigger bad feelings as well as potential discrimination claims. Never ask a worker to change his or her diet to prevent body odor.

* Delve into medical conditions that cause body odor; you may be wading into gray areas of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If the worker mentions a medical condition as a cause, you can request a doctor's letter as confirmation.

RELATED ARTICLE: THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Different causes of BO

Body odor generally is caused by poor personal hygiene, medical conditions and diet.

Hygiene. Body odor, medically termed bromhidrosis, occurs when bacteria living on the skin interact with sweat. "There's a gland, called the apocrine gland, that's a specialized sweat gland," explains Dr. Dennis Newton, a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The apocrine gland, located under the arms, produces a milky substance that bacteria love to grow on, he says. When bacteria break down the substance, BO results. Eccrine, or sweat, glands act on other parts of the body.

Any factor, then, that increases sweat production may increase body odor. Some people simply sweat more than others - as a result of strenuous activity or innate body function - and therefore have a stronger odor, Newton adds.

To get rid of body odor, the bacteria that cause it must be killed with an antibacterial agent such as a deodorant, though the effect can't last all day, Newton says. Other common methods are to bathe more often, reduce sweating with an antiperspirant or mask the odor with a fragrance. Because body odor can stick to clothing, some people may need to wash their clothes more often, too.

Medical conditions. Health conditions that can cause BO include liver dysfunction, diabetes, digestive problems and yeast infections, according to Dr. Leon Chaitow, a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster in England. Other medical experts mention skin infections and obesity (which causes sweating). Body odor can also be triggered by certain medications, especially antibiotics and steroids, Chaitow reported in a 1995 article published online.

Diet. The third cause, diet, is often linked to national origin or ethnicity. Different cultures eat foods flavored with different spices. Each spice emits a distinct odor that may or may not smell "bad" depending on who the smeller is. Other common food culprits in BO are lots of fish and red meat.

Carolyn Hirschman is an award-winning business writer based in Rockville, Md. She has been a journalist for more than 15 years, has written for a variety of business publications and has covered workplace issues since 1991.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group

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