Employment Law Information

To give a brief background, I’ll state that I have a rare metabolic disorder called Trimethylamanuria, or TMAU. TMAU, formerly known as “fish malodor syndrome,” is a disorder in which the individual affected has a severe, offensive body odor which can smell like feces, urine, or rotting fish. I most often smell of urine quite strongly, even though I bathe three times a day. There is no cure for the condition, and no courses of treatment have worked for me. I eat a very restrictive diet, but have had no success. Persons with this disorder are at astronomically high risk of suicide, and suicide rates of affected individuals are very high.

Now that you have an idea of what the disorder is, I’ll go on to ask my question:

I have had a very hard time with this disorder at work. I have been gravely insulted by many co-workers and upper-level employees. Fellow employees do not hesitate to say directly to my face that I smell like “ass” or “piss” or, as one extremely enlightened individual put it, “a flaming shitbag on the doorstep.” I have very good job performance, and I’m one of the best employees, but I’m getting very hurt by these comments. As a result of this condition and the hostile environment at my workplace, I suffer from severe depression and anxiety.

Will my workplace qualify as a Hostile Work Environment and, if so, how do I file a complaint to designate it as so and what does the Hostile Work Environment designation entail.

View the answer(s) below…