Your co-workers pungent cologne isn’t the only thing that can fire up your daily headache. Many products commonly found throughout a typical office setting can have an effect as well. Cleaning products, ink, pesticides (i.e. insect repellent, etc.), markers, carpeting, paint, mineral spirits, and copier toner can be troublesome for a person with environmental sensitivity. However proving that you actually suffer from an environmental or chemical sensitivity can create another headache altogether.
An estimated 45 million Americans suffer from chemical sensitivity, yet workers affected by workplace irritants may have difficulties receiving reasonable accommodation from their employers.
Many researchers as well as some courts are unconvinced that chemical sensitivity or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) is a valid medical condition, believing instead that the symptoms are simply psychological. Not only are the sensitivities hard to diagnose, but many times the symptoms can be controlled with medications which makes it hard to prove that the condition substantially limits major life activities and is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
A disability under the ADA is classified as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more so-called ‘major life activities’.”
Gits v. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (Civil No. 99-1925)
Peter Gits was an employee of Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) who suffers from MCS, a disorder that he developed over time while working at 3M as a Chemical Engineer. He suffered sinus and respiratory issues while on the 3M premises. On one occasion Gits fainted after being in a building that stored acrylate adhesive products and retro-reflective sheeting. As the ambulance rushed him to the hospital, his condition improved. He claimed his workplace was making him sick, and he asked for reasonable accommodation for his chemical sensitivity.
3M attempted to find alternative work environments for him, but none proved any better than the first. Eventually Gits was terminated. He sued claiming 3M discriminated against him by failing to accommodate his disability under the ADA. Ultimately the courts sided with 3M stating that “his impairment does not substantially limit a major life opportunity sufficient to constitute a disability within the ADA definition.”
Symptoms of Environmental Sensitivity
Even a trace amount of a chemical can send sufferers of environmental sensitivity into a tailspin. Some of the symptoms are:
- Neurological impairments
- Runny eyes
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Pain
- Difficulties with breathing or digesting.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Those with an environmental or chemical sensitivity can request reasonable accommodation from their employer under the ADA as long as that accommodation doesn’t create undue hardship to the employer. Some acceptable types of accommodations can be: improving workplace ventilation, moving affected employee to a different area of the office, or restriction of colognes, toxic cleaning agents, etc.
But here lies a wrinkle: under the ADA, even if an employee is not able to prove that they are disabled, that employee may still have an ADA claim if they can show that their employer retaliated against them because they engaged in activity that is protected under the ADA.