TENNESSEE BAN ON BODY ODOR!

Don D · August 2003

This morning's radio news brings word of a new Murfreesboro, TN city ordinance banning body odor in the workplace. I'm assuming this means among the ranks of city employees. Wonder if this extends to the guys hanging off the back of the Waste Management truck. And how close is Brentwood (HR Hero) to Murfreesboro. You may be next!

TN HR · August 2003

Well, I see Rutherford County made the news! I wonder if any of my guys will get cited after work from the onion smell that impregnates their clothes, etc (we're a fresh-cut produce processing company)

Balloonman · August 2003

Saw this on the news too, body odor and excessive perfume. But what about farts? I know they are not body odor, but it is an odor that comes from the body, I wonder how they are addressing this issue? x:D
I think most formites would agree, they would rather have someone near them with a bit much perfume as opposed to someone with no body odor just farting away? Am I wrong?
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Don D · August 2003

A very good friend of mine, who passed away a year ago, had a great disdain for using 'that word'. He could cut one with the best of 'em, and many of them were worthy of being named, but he insisted on calling it 'flatulate'. He also insisted on micturate, deficate, and conjugate; but, this is another discussion altogether.

System · August 2003

Don D,

I, too, have a great disdain for "that" word. It's one of the 4-letter "F" words that I never permitted from my offspring. Another is "Fair."

I wonder if Maryland will get on board. You can't even fathom the air quality in the HR office when the Refuse Crew stops in at the end of a work day. Whew!!

"Sam"

scottorr · August 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-26-03 AT 08:07AM (CST)[/font][p]That is too funny. Are they going to supply deodorant. I've got a new wrench for this law. My brother in-law is a Dx. He recently told me that a new study is coming out linking anti-perspirant with breast cancer. He said the study shows a significant increase in breast cancer among men and women since the use of the products became popular and in European countries where it is not used, there was no increase. Interesting! My thought was, will this law now make the city in TN liable for anyone who was required to control their BO? x;-)

rad · August 2003

I saw this on the news as well. They apparently have a problem with city workers who do lots of outside work. How do they expect them to stay fresh and clean smelling? Body odor is certainly offensive to many but sometimes I think the perfume or cologne bathers are harder to tolerate so I do agree with them on that point. There are a few folks here who stink up the office with their perfumes and leave the rest of us gagging and with tears in our eyes!

System · August 2003

I can't wear perfume. I get an instant headache, so I avoid cologne abusers. It's harder to avoid people with BO - we have a field guy here whose BO lingers for a looooong time after he leaves. I'd rather have a headache than deal with that! I'd like to see how they'll enforce this, and what the consequences will be.

Whatever · August 2003

I hate catalogues that come from department stores because they usually reek of the perfume of the month. However, this not body odor, it's book odor.

rad · August 2003

I do too...I shake mine out over the recycle bin (which is kept outside) before I take them into my apartment, I try to not even touch them...I get real bad headaches from most perfumes, there are only about three I can wear.

Don D · August 2003

"A brother in law who is a DX," what's a DX? In the cable industry, where I was in my last life, that had to do with frequency/radio transmission signal strength as related to signal leakage. I think Goober was a DX at the fillin' station in Mayberry, wasn't he?

Balloonman · August 2003

A DX is a professional who does not fart...........I think. x}> Yeah can't wait to see what they do with the guy that showers every morning and works out in the heat and humidity and happens to be unfortunately one of those folks whose sweat reaks......... will be interesting.
My $0.02 worth,
DJ The Balloonman

Don D · August 2003

Doctor of Xenophobia?

scottorr · August 2003

My brother in-law is a medical doctor from NC. NC stands for North Carolina. x;-) Here in NY we have some strange acronyms but thats an entirely different thread.

Don D · August 2003

Scott: I understand that NC is North Carolina. I've seen that list of newfangled state designations. I have to hesitate though with Maine and Maryland or Alaska and Alabama. What I had trouble with was your Dx reference.

scottorr · August 2003

Don, I hope I did not offend you with the NC comment. It was just meant as a jab in the side. Dx may be only a NY acronym. I'm not sure. He told me about the study about two months ago but I haven't heard anything since.

twochr · August 2003

Guess I'm the only one of us that reads the Urban Legends website, [url]www.snopes.com[/url], because the rumor about the deordorant causing breast cancer has been circling via the internet for a few years now and they say on there that there is absolutely no truth to it. However, I'm certainly not saying that "DX" doesn't know what he is talking about, but perhaps he has been getting those emails too! Anyway, go to Snopes, type in "deodorant" in the search engine and you will find the rumor and then what they have discovered. Have fun with that site! It is soooo amazing!

sonny · August 2003

Geez, I can see it now. .they will bargaining for more breaks so they can go home and take showers mid day so they are not violating the ordinance! I work for a City as well. .Our poor guys and gals are out there in 90 degree temperature and 90 plus degree humidity (working for crap wage and no respect.) What the heck are they supposed to do?

Balloonman · August 2003

Geez Scott, I thought the NC was for not contagious! I learn something new everyday!
My $0.02 worth,
DJ The Balloonman

hrbanker · August 2003

Do you think the ones with BO will recognize themselves? We have an employee who smokes and uses STRONG perfume to cover up the smoke smell. She thinks the dress code policy asking employees to refrain from wearing fragrances in the workplace doesn't apply to her.

Next TN will need the odor patrol to hand out stink tickets... The whole thing stinks to me!

Sunny · August 2003

I see none of the HR Hero staff replied about their proximity to Murfreesboro. Perhaps they are abashed. Murfreesboro is about 25 miles from Franklin, TN and Brentwood is a few miles north of Franklin. I'd say they are too close for comfort - particularly if one is wearing too much cologne.

Parabeagle · August 2003

One of our smaller towns in Oregon (Bend, OR) has/was going to adopt a similar ordinance. Basically I think the only real teeth it has is that it allows you to kick people out of public places or off of buses, trains, etc. if they aren't, uh, pleasantly non-odiferous.

Paul in Cannon Beach · August 2003

I have to say that Balloonman's comment (see below) is one of the funniest things I have ever seen on this forum. Thanks for the laugh and the visual.

"I think most formites would agree, they would rather have someone near them with a bit much perfume as opposed to someone with no body odor just farting away?" - Balloonman, HR Forum, August 2003

Paul in Cannon Beach

Parabeagle · August 2003

You're right, Paul. That is profound. Think I'll go write it on a bathroom wall somewhere...

Leslie · August 2003

I have been busy all day (I HATE grievance committees!) and this is just too much. Ban on body odor?!?! They would have been handing out citations right and left to people sitting in line waiting to get gas with their AC units off. I mean the concept may be good but just how do you enforce this? And how much body odor is too much body odor?

Human Resources Manager · August 2003

OK, here is how I understand the law: It came into being after someone complained about a worker who refused to deal with a patently obvious personal hygiene problem. It DOES NOT APPLY to workers who primarily work outside.

I interpret it to mean that if an employee has hygiene issues, is spoken to about such issues (don't we all just love that little chat!), and refuses to correct the problem, said employee can legally be terminated.

I foresee problems with people who have medical conditions that might create or exacerbate a B.O. issue. Do I see a new ADA category on the horizon?

Don D · August 2003

The problem I have with it is trying to visualize a city council meeting on Monday, with 6 or 7 cartoon characters sitting around in a room discussing degrees of body odor and one of them actually making a motion while twisting up on his left cheek in discomfort, some fool seconding the motion and another one of them bringing it to a vote. And right there in front of news cameras rolling and an audience who had come to protest street repairs and taxes, there is the drumroll waiting for the raising of hands, one of them passes gas silently, causing all the others to raise their hands, and the damned thing passes. That visual alongside Balloon's visual is more than I can stand. Pffft. "If you ain't laughin', you ain't right!", Don D. The Forum, 082703.

HR rosie · August 2003

This is too much!

Thanks to all of you for your humor, especially DonD and Balloonman. I needed a few good chuckles after the last day and a half I have had!

crawfod · August 2003

I've been unable to check the Forum for a while, and the first day I get back on, there's a fellow Tennessee city in the news. Murfreesboro is a city of about 70,000 with over 500 city employees, and here's what was reported in the newspaper. They did have an employee with persistent offensive body odor whom they counseled with on numerous occasions, all to no avail. It wasn't clear whether he/she made any efforts to correct the problem, but the complaints of fellow employees forced them to take more formal action.

So they amended the policy dealing with "dressing professionally, according to the job description", to the following:
"All employees shall maintain good hygiene and appropriate grooming while working. No employee shall have an odor generally offensive to others when reporting to work. An offensive body odor may result from a lack of good hygiene, from an excessive application of a fragrant aftershave or cologne, or from other causes." (Good wording here at the end--covers farts, smelly feet, maybe even bad breath, etc.)
The policy does not replace the older provision or include odors stemming from medical conditions. Department heads would handle those kinds of cases under the ADA regulations, according to their City Attorney. Employees who violate the rule risk disciplinary actions ranging from reprimands to one-day suspensions. Termination was not mentioned, which is a little surprising to me.

Even the city attorney seemed embarassed by this issue, saying, "It's sad that this had to get legalistic. Things like this give lawyers a bad rap when we have to make a rule for everything." No kidding.

Anyway, as a neighboring City Personnel Director, I sympathize with their stinking publicity, but the truth is we also have a few employees who come to work with odors and have had some mild complaints from other employees, so far, but we don't have a specific policy covering such a topic. We'll go as far as we can to handle such problems quietly and privately, but as another post said, some people just don't get it or don't care, and we have a responsibility to provide a pleasant work atmosphere, so eventually stronger action may be necessary.

System · August 2003

crawfod,

It looks like you're from Pennsylvania, but you say "fellow Tennessee" in your post. Not important, just curious - where are you? My posts were putting me in another state for awhile. I, too, am a City Human Resources Director, but in Maryland.

For the sake of comparing horror stories, we had an employee on the Refuse Crew whose mouth odor was so bad that the front desk warned me when he was coming so I could get out of my office and meet him in the hall. No one could bear close quarters with him without hurling. I even told him, in a polite way, to make use of our dental plan. Everyone thought it was my job to do something.

We thought of including a section in the dress code that more directly addresses hygiene. I would hate to think of codifying an issue in the employee handbood. I would hate it more to think of city council getting involved.

"Sam"

System · August 2003

Whew! The wind has shifted so I can come out of the basement. Yes, Murfreesboro is just down the road from Brentwood, Tennessee, the home of HRhero.com.

The thing I find offensive is that this big stink was raised over ONE person who worked for the city. Co-workers had complained about him for years, but management couldn't/wouldn't force him to clean up his act because body odor wasn't specifically mentioned in the rulebook for city employees. So the city council had to amend the dress code to include it.

What's next? Maybe this guy will wash his clothes in the water fountain and dry them in the breakroom microwave. Then the city council will rewrite the rulebook.... 8-|

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

TENNESSEE BAN ON BODY ODOR!

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