A reader writes:
I’ve (what I feel is) an outlandish query for you, however I promise it’s true. It comes from my coworker’s partner.
At her place of employment, they’ve discovered it tough to retain anybody within the administrative assistant place. It feels like there was a whole lot of turnover in that position, to the purpose that administration is determined to retain somebody … anybody! The present admin assistant, lets name her Feyre, has some private hygiene points (i.e. not showering, coming to work unkempt in worn sweatpants, and many others.) which needed to be addressed by whoever oversees her.
Whereas addressing private hygiene just isn’t out of the realm of prospects within the office, one startling revelation was that different coworkers have walked into the lavatory the place Feyre was “doing her enterprise” with the stall door extensive open! The affronted different worker excused themselves instantly and thought it an accident. Nevertheless, this saved taking place and a sample emerged.
Administration approached Feyre with this, and she or he mentioned she has extreme claustrophobia the place she will’t use the lavatory with the door closed. With a view to accommodate her, administration made it clear she should both shut the stall door or use the non-public accessible rest room down the corridor. She has refused to do that, and continues to be utilizing the bathroom with the stall door extensive open. As administration is determined to retain somebody on this place and her work is mildly passable, they nonetheless need to hold her.I’m clearly not on this state of affairs as I don’t work there, however I do a whole lot of the hiring/HR at my smaller group so I’m each horrified and fascinated at what administration’s subsequent steps needs to be. We’re in Canada so the legal guidelines might fluctuate, however at what level does the employer exceed their obligation to accommodate an worker for one thing like this? What can be the easiest way for administration to navigate this example?!
There are all types of lodging that may be made for claustrophobia, however “use the bathroom with the door extensive open in a rest room the place different persons are current” just isn’t one in all them. I can’t communicate to Canadian regulation, however I think it’s the identical as U.S. regulation on this circumstance: lodging can’t require that different individuals’s rights be violated, and Feyre’s coworkers have the suitable not be topic to an observe that entails them being repeatedly and involuntarily uncovered to a colleague together with her pants down.
Having Feyre use the non-public accessible rest room down the corridor was a very good resolution. Since she’s refused to do this, they should discover out why. Is it too removed from her desk and she or he generally wants the lavatory extra urgently? If that’s the case, can her desk be moved? Or is it a closed door that’s the difficulty for her, interval? If that’s the case, they want a lawyer to information them right here. My intuition is that that’s a state of affairs that may’t be resolved — as a result of, once more, lodging can’t violate different individuals’s rights (which is why you possibly can’t, for instance, set lodging that embody issues like “by no means has to talk to feminine staff” or “should be permitted to run nude by way of the hallways”) — however while you’re on the level of denying a medical lodging, you desire a lawyer that will help you navigate it.
On this case, it sounds just like the employer needs to throw up their palms and say, “Oh properly, she’s going to make use of the lavatory with the door open, nothing we are able to do” as a result of they need to hold her within the job. However the staff there can be on strong footing in the event that they needed to push again and say, “No, we’re not keen to be uncovered to this.”
