[FPIN] Some state employees must leave fragrance at home (fwd)

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Detroit Free Press (Michigan)

www.freep.com

Some state employees must leave fragrance at home

by Christoff

Free Press Lansing Bureau Chief

January 15, 2005

LANSING -- There's such a thing as smelling too good at the

Michigan Family Independence Agency.

The FIA has put its 1,000 headquarters employees on notice

that the fifth floor is off-limits to people wearing

strong-smelling perfume or lotions or who use scented soap

or shampoo. The odors can cause allergic reactions to two

employees on that floor, according to the FIA press office.

The two have suffered respiratory attacks after being

exposed to toiletry odors, an FIA memo says, adding that

for these employees the odors are as dangerous as

secondhand smoke. Smoking is banned in all state office

buildings. There is no policy for other odors.

Actually, the FIA's fifth floor has been fragrance-free for

about a year after one worker began having allergic

reactions, said FIA spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet. But the

awareness efforts have been renewed because a second

employee was moved to the floor after she suffered

asthma-like attacks that sent her to the hospital.

" We're really trying to go out of our way to accommodate

our staff and have people who work on that floor

accommodate the fact that these people have significant

allergies, " Sorbet said.

Sorbet said the second employee filed a grievance because

she thought the FIA should take more steps, but a state

administrative law judge ruled that the no-smell zone was

enough.

This week, notices were posted around the 15-story

headquarters, alerting employees not to wear fragrances on

the fifth floor.

Sorbet said many personal grooming products are available

in unscented versions, although that's obviously not the

case for perfumes or colognes.

She said the only way to determine whether an item is

off-limits is if it has a residual odor.

Contact CHRIS CHRISTOFF at 517-372-8660 or

christoff@....

Copyright C 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.