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Judge allows civil suit over co-worker's perfume
DenverPost.com ^ | 11/27/08

Posted on 11/28/2008 3:50:26 PM PST by Oyarsa

DETROIT—A federal judge says a Detroit city employee can proceed with a civil suit claiming she couldn't work because of a co-worker's strong perfume. The Detroit News says U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff determined Susan McBride has a potential claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The city is asking to have the suit dismissed.

McBride says she's severely sensitive to perfumes and other cosmetics. She says the perfume worn by a co-worker in the city's Planning Department made it difficult for her to breathe.

She says the co-worker also used a plugged in room deodorizer.

The suit says the co-worker later agreed to stop using the room deodorizer but kept using perfume.

(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: allergy; detroit; mcbride; perfume
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To: MamaB

Perfumed candles also give me a problem, but if the weather is warm, and my allergies are not in sensitivity mode, I can burn the scented ones.

Also, sometimes allergies do manifest themselves later in life. I used to never have a problem around cats until the last 25 years, (I am now 60)and now I know if there’s a cat in the house without ever having seen the cat. My throat starts tickling, and my eyes begin itching and watering.


41 posted on 11/28/2008 5:42:09 PM PST by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
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To: omega4179

Well, I am irritated by the horrendous body odor of the hippies who live in my area who don’t bathe, use deodorant, and have stinky dreadlocks.

I live in No. California by the way.

To me they smell worse than any perfume.

I don’t think I can do anything about my hippie liberal problem.

I wear perfume, not a lot of it, just one spray. I wouldn’t stop wearing it just because someone asks me to.

Now if there is a very serious medical issue that is proven, I might stop, but otherwise no.

Why do we have to keep fighting for our individual rights?


42 posted on 11/28/2008 5:46:12 PM PST by Aurorales
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To: MamaB
I can use natural oils for fragrance but any sort of artificial perfume tends to bother me.
43 posted on 11/28/2008 5:46:55 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Faith Manages. I consider myself a bit of a purist, and proud of it.)
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To: OldEagle

Yes, some perfumes are lovely. That’s the kind I wear. I am always complimented on my perfume. One time while visiting Minnesota (from Canada) a young lady in Penske’s asked me about it. She was so disappointed to find out she could not buy it in the US. When I got back home I sent her some. She emailed me when she ran out and I sent her some more. It was quite fun - she was so sweet and had the same name as my daughter.


44 posted on 11/28/2008 5:46:59 PM PST by JudyinCanada
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To: shibumi

OOOps, #40 was for you. The aroma might about as unpleasant, though.


45 posted on 11/28/2008 5:50:19 PM PST by CH3CN
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To: Oyarsa; Just another Joe; CSM; lockjaw02; Publius6961; elkfersupper; nopardons; metesky; Mears; ...

first they came for the tobacco smells..........

Nanny State Ping.

This was only a matter of time folks. I can’t stand heavy perfumes, and have had allergic reactions to some, but the idea of going to court over such just never crossed my mind, nor would it even though I’ve been seeing it happen more and more frequently.


46 posted on 11/28/2008 5:51:52 PM PST by Gabz (Is a sarcasm tag really needed?)
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To: Sacajaweau

It can be incapacitating. Allergies can lead to asthma attacks, and while I’m not allergic, it’s a migraine trigger. If people were remotely considerate, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Believe me, it’s tough to ask, and I’ve only had one person make a big deal about it.

My life can be very painful and I wish it was different, but it is what it is.


47 posted on 11/28/2008 5:59:54 PM PST by Patriotic1 (Dic mihi solum facta, domina - Just the facts, ma'am)
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To: Oyarsa

I knew a guy who had to work in the same area as a woman who wore heavy doses of industrial strength cheap perfume. He had problems with his wife who could smell it on him when he went home.


48 posted on 11/28/2008 6:00:14 PM PST by Fresh Wind (Hey, Obama! Where's my check?)
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To: Aurorales

What would you accept as proof?


49 posted on 11/28/2008 6:01:38 PM PST by Patriotic1 (Dic mihi solum facta, domina - Just the facts, ma'am)
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To: Gabz

Give me a smoker over a perfume wearer, any day.


50 posted on 11/28/2008 6:02:41 PM PST by Patriotic1 (Dic mihi solum facta, domina - Just the facts, ma'am)
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To: CH3CN

Each time the person left my office, I’d go down to their’s and light up.

They got the hint after a few times. Geez, I could’a sued, instead.

Nahh...just feed ‘em peanuts, the allergic reaction will slam their windpipe shut and they’ll be quivering like a beached whale...liberals are like that,they all think they are allergic to peanuts now, it’s an empathetic thing....I’m sure it’ll be ruled a suicide or accident.


51 posted on 11/28/2008 6:13:08 PM PST by coolbreeze (giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teen-age boys.)
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To: Morgana

Ever wonder what some of these people would smell like without the perfume?


52 posted on 11/28/2008 6:19:24 PM PST by Farmer Dean (168 grains of instant conflict resolution)
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Comment #53 Removed by Moderator

To: Gabz

I told an intern who works for me to stop bathing in Ralph Lauren cologne on Tuesday... If he wants to keep his job.

I’m not paying him $10/hour to make me sneeze and annoy me.


54 posted on 11/28/2008 6:28:35 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: omega4179
Shes right, some people irritate with lots of perfume.

If fragrant, aromatic tobacco smoke was allowed to be generated in that workplace, maybe the perfumery would not be an issue.

55 posted on 11/28/2008 6:31:32 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: Sacajaweau

Pull up her application paperwork. If she didn’t list her allergies to perfume under the “Do you have any physical or mental ailments that may affect your work performance” catergory, she doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on. Not to mention she can be fired because she lied on her application.


56 posted on 11/28/2008 6:32:13 PM PST by factoryrat (Better living through American Industrial Might.)
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To: beandog
The smell of coffee makes me nauseous and gives me headaches. I think people should quit drinking coffee just for me.

I am personally offended and adversely affected by that second-hand microwave popcorn.

I also don't like to look at the fat chicks that cook and eat it.

57 posted on 11/28/2008 6:34:01 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: muawiyah
The Americans With Disabilities Act says you can bring suit to achieve exactly that. At the same time I and many of your coworkers get blinding headaches by 10:30 AM that lead us to engage in violent bat swinging rages if we don't get our morning coffee and cigarette. Do you care to risk that?

There, all fixed and complete.

58 posted on 11/28/2008 6:40:51 PM PST by elkfersupper
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To: Eric Blair 2084

Back years ago, before all the anti-smoker bans and most of the anti-smoker nonsense, I used to work with a guy that was just rank. No other word can describe the guy. We worked at a radio station and every studio had a can of Lysol in it.

The Lysol was just for general use because of the mikes -— but anyone who went into a studio after this guy would spray the entire studio down because it stunk so bad. He was also one of the few non-smokers on the staff and the very first anti-smoker I ever encountered. He never said a word about the smokers and smoking in the AM or FM studios, or the production or interview studios, but constantly whined abut me smoking in the newsroom.

He never took the hints, and not very subtle ones, that his odor was offensive to the rest of us. That ended when he brought and “air cleaner” into the newsroom so he could tolerate the cigarette odor. I asked him where he got the contraption so we could buy them for each of the studios to get rid of his offensive odors. Nope, not subtle at all on my part.

He still hadn’t cleaned up his act by the time I left, but no one had to put up with his incessent whining about smokers after that day.


59 posted on 11/28/2008 6:49:54 PM PST by Gabz (Is a sarcasm tag really needed?)
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To: Patriotic1

I’m so sorry -— I meant to ping you to my post #59


60 posted on 11/28/2008 6:51:15 PM PST by Gabz (Is a sarcasm tag really needed?)
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