Would you fire an employee for bad B.O?

[Hammerjack]

No - I have been a manager for years - it's tough but I'd talk to them.

People actually appreciate feedback - even when it's bad; It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

[Farra]

If it's because of poor hygene and not due to some sort of medical condition, then I would speak to them first. If it doesn't improve then yes, I would fire them.

[turboether]

Why is it ok for construction workers to have BO?

Because if your construction workers aren't sweating they aren't working hard enough.

[Goradan]

No but I will give the stinky bastard a warning.

[tratra]

Have HR contacting him formally about his Oder and then if he decides not to change it then you can chuck him out. You need a valid reason to chuck someone out and definitely just verbally saying to him "dude you smell kinda weird so please take a shower" is way different than formally asking him to change that. Only way to avoid it is to come up with a doctors paper that says that his Oder is coming from a problem with his thyroid or something thing that you would have seen during the hiring process.

I'd say do fire him but before doing so give him but before doing that sent a formal complain to him and see if that changes things.

[Pendulous]

I work in a physical job that is also customer service. There is no reason ever to fire someone just because you think they smell.

[tj119]

Shocked the stink brigade hasn't come in "SMELLY PEOPLE SHOULD BE A PROTECTED CLASS!"

[tratra]

Why is it ok for construction workers to have BO?

Because a consturction worker is actually doing things over the course of the day that will cause him to have bad Oder no matter what.

Construction workers are the cleanest persons you'll meet out of work since they deal with all that sweat and chemicals and dust and every sort of thing so they will take 2 showers a day easily to get that thing off. During the course of work though they do smell after a while and we are not talking about a person that will come in your house to fix something for 1 hour but for someone that is actually building stuff or renovating houses or whatever whilst the owners are not there.

It is ok for them to smell cause everyone around their workplace will be smelling, its how humans are when more testosterone is produced.

The owners or supervisors of the construction will usually be talking with the project manager or someone that has nothing to do with building that stuff so its fine.

Btw have you ever worked in a construction?

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I work in a physical job that is also customer service. There is no reason ever to fire someone just because you think they smell.

Think they smell or they actually do? big difference here, and there is a reason to fire someone if he smells...

[Independent voter]

Fair minded but what if it's a guard or office worker?

Talk to them. Give them a chance to clean up their act, detail what's going to happen if they don't. If they don't comply, follow through.

[Nabopolassar]

In my industry the opposite problem seems more common. I have been a restaurant manager for years and 20 year old girls bathe in cheap perfume that could choke a donkey because they think it improves their job performance. I take them aside and explain how much perfume to apply and how much they should be spending to smell professional in a somewhat physical job.

Cooks on the other hand usually crawl to work 20 minutes late smelling of cheap beer, BO, and last nights server's $4 perfume while wearing yesterdays uniform. but no one cares what kitchen trolls smell like, a guest and a cook should never interact.

[mizeri]

we all know what is expected but i bet soon enough someone will get fired then the employee will have a law suit against the employer and win saying discrimination against him cause of his "natural" body odor and after that it will be ok for customer service reps to look like ass and smell like one too on the job.

[Celista]

If it is pushing other employees, customers, clients, etc., away then they can still fire you even if it is a disability. The ADA only requires that reasonable accommodations be made and only if they don't cause undue hardship. Destroying your own business by losing clients/customers/employees to someone's stink isn't a reasonable accommodation and does cause an undue hardship.

No. You can absolutely NOT fire someone because of their disability. You can fire an employee for lots of *other* reasons, though.

Fact: Employers can fire workers with disabilities under three conditions:

-The termination is unrelated to the disability or
-The employee does not meet legitimate requirements for the job, such as performance or production standards, with or without a reasonable accommodation or
-Because of the employee's disability, he or she poses a direct threat to health or safety in the workplace.

http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/ada.htm

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Shocked the stink brigade hasn't come in "SMELLY PEOPLE SHOULD BE A PROTECTED CLASS!"

They already are a protected class if it's a medical condition. People with poor hygiene simply need to take a shower, and/or see a therapist for their depression issues.

[Deleted]

Yes and I have

[Stacie]

If it's within the contract to come to work smart, clean then yeah i would. Plenty of people looking for work who take care of themselves. Chances are if they have no interest in themselves they wont in there work. I would warn them first ofc to give them a chance to turn things around. If they pick smelly over working then they are just ban employee's with little interest to work imo.

[Deleted]

If customers or other employees would complain, yes.

[Hooked]

Because they don't take showers every few hours to get rid of the BO they generate simply doing their job. Same with other highly physical jobs.

I have worked construction for years and never have smelled. Even completely drenched in sweat doesn't mean you have to smell, use antiperspirant deodorant and shower daily. Perhaps they have some kind of bacteria infection and need to see the doctor.

[Wildtree]

http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/ada.htm

This one:

Because of the employee's disability, he or she poses a direct threat to health or safety in the workplace.

Can be seen as given, if a person develops body odor due to lack of hygiene.
Of course, that does only apply to a person disabled or not, that has no proper care for themselves.

Generally, the way to go is to address the issue with the coworker directly, IF there's enough friendly connection present. If not, then skip that step and address it with the person in charge.
In larger companies, one would address it with human resources. They will talk to the coworker in question, and if things won't get better, chances are that they'll get fired.

[Celista]

This one:
Can be seen as given, if a person develops body odor due to lack of hygiene.

Body odor due to lack of hygiene is not a disability, so that is not relevant :/ People who don't bother to shower aren't protected legally, especially given US at-will employment laws. Although you'd have to get super creative with the law to prove that lack of hygiene is a DIRECT threat to health or safety in the workplace...

[Vinictus]

Looks like a lot of Indians are about to get the boot.

[Deleted]

Looks like a lot of Indians are about to get the boot.

Racist much?