Here’s another outrageous lawsuit that drives people nuts. City of Detriot worker Susan McBride cannot stand her co-worker’s perfume so she complaints to management that does not solve the problem. Susan does what every other money hungry red-blooded American would do – she lawyers up and sues the city for violating her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (the “ADA). Do you think anybody in Congress thought when they passed the ADA that an allergy caused by a smell would be a disability that entitled the victim to compensation, not from the stinky perfume wearer, but from the perfume wearer’s employer? The city agreed to pay Ms. McBride $100,000 to make the lawsuit go away. See the settlement. Why didn’t the city order the smelly perfume wearer to cease and desist. Why didn’t the city separate the two people?
The story linked to above also has information about an earlier smelly Detroit case that resulted in an even bigger settlement. It tells about a DJ named Erin Weber who sued his/her employer who failed to prevent a co-worker from wearing perfume that bothered the DJ. A jury awarded the victim $10.5 million, but the court reduced the damages to a mere $814,000.
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Susan McBride did not file the lawsuit because she couldn’t stand the perfume. She was forced to file the lawsuit because the perfume made her sick and unable to breath. Perfume makes me sick as well. I have asthma and have suffered irreversible damage to my lungs after enduring several months of daily exposure to a coworker’s perfume that made me sick. Prior to this exposure I used to miss about 10 days of work a year due to asthma. After being exposed to a perfume that was toxic to me, I now miss approximately 6 weeks of work a year.
McBride didn’t just run out, find a lawyer and sue because she didn’t like the way a perfume smelled and thought it was an easy way to make money. She tried to work with her employer. There were many things her employer could have done to help her. The City of Detroit chose not to. ADA considers breathing a major life activity and it is covered under the law. When an employee has exhausted all avenues of redress with their employer and the employer refuses to help, and the situation is making the employee sick, possibly irreversibly, what would you have that employee do? Quit their job, lose their health insurance and become destitute? Continue working until permanently and completely disabled? I don’t like either of those options, and I chose neither of them for myself. I chose to fight. Fortunately, my employer resolved the situation before it was necessary for me to sue, but not before I filed the EEOC complaint. And it was not a pleasant experience for me. I was absolutely horrified that I was made sick and then forced into making those choices because a woman at work refused to stop wearing perfume that made me ill, and my employer chose not to address the issue. I actually came very close to a nervous breakdown. I’m sorry, but once all reasonable attempts to solve such a problem have been tried and failed, there isn’t anything left to do but file a complaint with the EEOC and if that doesn’t work, then sue.
In addition, McBride should not be described as “money hungry.” She was awarded $100,000. Do you really think $100,000 is enough to compensate a person for being made sick every single day at work for an extended period of time? Do you think it is enough money to compensate a person for having their name splashed all over the media and have their reputation torn to shreds by people who have no idea of what they are talking about? Personally, I don’t think so. And please remember that McBride did not receive the entire $100,000 – her lawyer took a cut of it. Just out of curiousity, what would you consider reasonable compensation for me, for the permanent health damage I suffered due to a coworker’s perfume? Or do you think I deserve nothing and that perfume is more important than people? For the record, I received no compensation for the permanent damage that was done to my health. I am fortunate that my employer currently provides adequate paid sick and vacation time so that my extended absences due to respiratory problems permanently exacerbated by a coworker’s perfume do not cause me financial harm. I never asked for monetory compensation and I won’t. There is no amount of money that would be worth the pain, suffering and stress that going through such a process would cause me. If any of you who have been having such fun bashing McBride had ever been forced to file a lawsuit, or have ever come close to being forced to file a lawsuit, you would understand that. Lawsuits aren’t fun and they are not an easy way to make money. And to be honest, the only people that win are the lawyers, and sometimes THEY don’t even win.
Please remember that none of what McBride was forced to do would have been necessary had the woman wearing the offending, sickening perfume simply stopped wearing it. No one HAS to wear perfume, but everyone has to breath. In my opinion, that woman was horribly selfish and if Karma is real, she will get hers one day. And I hope it’s a permanent respiratory condition. I want her to know what it feels like to be unable to breath well enough to walk across a room or even speak a complete sentence. I know. I know because of damage done to my respiratory system by perfume. And, the City of Detroit could have easily resolved the problem by any of the means suggested by earlier writers – they could have moved one or both of them so they didn’t sit near each other, they could have allowed McBride to work from home, they could have insisted the mean, selfish woman stop wearing the perfume. Most companies have dress codes. Why can’t perfume be a part of it? What is wrong with saying that if an employee wears a fragrance that makes another employee ill, the employee wearing the fragrance must stop? It could even be made more general. If an employee is engaging in a voluntary behavior that is not necessary in order to perform a major life activity and is not necessary to perform his or her job, and that behavior makes another employee sick, the offending employee has to stop. Why do we even need such rules? Because so many people have become so mean and selfish. That is why. Please stop picking on Susan McBride unless you actually know what you are talking about. The lawsuit is a public document. If you want to defame her and ruin her reputation, causing her even more pain than she has already endured, (for which $100,000 is hardly enough compensation) at least go through the trouble of obtaining the lawsuit and other relevant documents and read them so you at least know what you are talking about. Thank you.
Do you know the name of her lawyer. I have a similar situation I am permanently disabled because of the same situation and could use a good attorney familiar with this type of case. I have 3 laundry baskets full of documentation spanning 17 years and currently have filed a case with the EEOC can you help me?
Yes Do you have the nameof her lawyer For 12 years I have had this documented problem and have runout of resources except to sue thank you
I am haivng the same problems @ work & this is a HOSPITAL. THe employees have been told & now seem to wearing more. I am about to have a nervous break down & want to commend Ms.McBride for filing her lawsuit & writer Barbara’s comments. When will poeple listen, perfume is worse that cigerettes for me.