A woman is suing the city of Indianapolis because she claims she was fired from her courthouse job for raising a stink about a smelly co-worker.
Employees at the city’s magistrate court began complaining to manager Amber Bridges in November 2016 that an unnamed colleague’s “obnoxious chronic body odor” was unbearable, IndyStar reported, citing a Dec. 21 complaint filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Bridges scattered air fresheners throughout their office to “improve the overall quality of air in the office,” the suit states.
Other managers followed her lead, and the rank associate complained that the preponderance of potpourri was creating a hostile workplace environment, so Bridges was fired in May 2017.
Bridges contends that the Americans With Disabilities Act protects her from being fired, shielding people who have a “known association or relationship with a disabled individual” from undue termination.
Bridges is arguing that the worker’s malodorous condition constitutes a disability — and that she was simply trying to accommodate the colleague by dispersing the air fresheners.
It is “fairly common” for co-workers and family members to face workplace retribution trying to protect someone with disabilities, employment attorney Kevin Betz, who is not representing either side in the case, told the Star.
Employers must make reasonable accommodations for workers with disability-related body odor, such as allowing flexible restroom breaks, installing air purification systems or allowing the employee to work from home, according to the Job Accommodation Network, a service of the US Labor Department.
Lawyers for Bridges and the city declined to comment to the outlet.