Aromatherapy in the Workplace
carriewilliams
1 Post
:help: I have an employee that was prescribed aromatherapy/essential oils for stress relief by her holistic doctor. We now have one person in the office that used to compliment the other employee's use of aromatherapy/essential oils, but now has gotten offended an a couple occasions and sent emails to manager stating he did not appreciate it and making derogatory comments.
Has anyone else ever had to deal with this? What did you do? Because it is "prescribed" is it protected?
Has anyone else ever had to deal with this? What did you do? Because it is "prescribed" is it protected?
Comments
I know your big question is whether the holistic doctor's prescription means you have to accommodate the employee's aromatherapy. While we don't have an article that addresses that issue, I did find this article http://www.hrhero.com/hl/articles/2010/02/11/making-sense-of-scent-issues-at-work
Also, you can check out the EEOC guidance at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/accommodation.html#requesting
Under #6, it says "Appropriate professionals include, but are not limited to, doctors (including psychiatrists), psychologists, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, vocational rehabilitation specialists, and licensed mental health professionals."
I hope this helps!
Celeste Blackburn
Senior Editor, Business & Legal Resources