Calvin Klein Perfumes

In an unprecedented week the reailty of employees developing multiple chemical sensitivity and chemical injury caused by fragrances and other toxins in the workplace has been brought home to employers by the courts.
 
In Detroit, Michigan, USA, a city employee won a lawsuit after her managers failed to take her complaints that co-workers' perfume was making her sick. Meanwhile, in Australia, substantial damages were awarded to an airline cabin attendant whose respiratory illness was attributed to toxic cabin air.
In the first case, City of Detroit employee Susan McBride filed a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). After her complaints that a co-worker’s perfume made it difficult for her to breathe were ignored by her superiors she decided to let a court decide whether her chemical sensitivity should be taken more seriously.

The city argued the perfume sensitivity did not qualify as a major life activity under the ADA but, in what is now a landmark case, the judge disagreed,


stating that the ability to breathe freely certainly qualifies as a major life activity.

McBride was awarded $100,000 compensation and the City was ordered to enact a new policy on fragrances to include posting notices in buildings where McBride works, asking other city employees not to wear scents at work.