Detroit City Workers Warned Against Scented Cosmetics

Sorry, no can do.

Perfumes, Colognes, and Aftershave on the List

Are you sensitive to scents? Someone wearing a perfume like Heat in the workplace can distract you from the task at hand or even make you sick, and if you're sensitive to perfumes in general, you might have trouble doing your job. Don't worry, Detroit's got your best interest in mind when they urge city workers to go unscented... but their placard could use some work.

City employees are going to be urged not to wear a variety of products that could be heavily scented, after a federal lawsuit filed by a city employee. In 2008, a $100,00 settlement was reached after an employee claimed her coworker's perfume was too strong to handle in the workplace.

After the $100K settlement, city employees received memos urging them to go unscented. Now three placards are planned in three separate city buildings warning employees to avoid "wearing scented products, including ... colognes, aftershave lotions, perfumes, deodorants, body/face lotions ... (and) the use of scented candles, perfume samples from magazines, spray or solid air fresheners."

That's one ugly placard. Why distinguish between perfume and "perfume samples from magazines" if they are both perfume? Why tell people to avoid scented deodorant, probably one of the more innocuous products on the list? When people work with the public, hygiene's extra essential, and deodorant? I'd hate to see someone skip it on a hot summer's day because they have some Dove Cool Essentials instead of unscented.

Besides the placard, the employee handbook and the Americans with Disabilities Act training will also include warnings. What do you think: fair or unfair?

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