Woman Sues, Claims She Was Fired for Complaints About Co-Worker's 'Obnoxious' Body Odor

An Indianapolis woman is firing back after being let go from her job with the city over filing [...]

By Stephen Andrew

An Indianapolis woman is firing back after being let go from her job with the city over filing complaints against a co-worker with "obnoxious chronic body odor."

Amber Bridges is a former lead staff in the magistrate court, but ended up getting fired for complaining that a co-worker has terrible chronic body odor, according to a complaint filed back in December.

She says many complaints were brought to her personally by other employees and she attempted to speak to superiors about the issue, but it was never resolved so she began to bring in numerous air fresheners in order to resolve the issue herself.

According to the IndyStar, other employees began to do the same thing at this point, which prompted the person accused of chronic body odor to file their own H.R. complaint against Bridges.

That complaint stated that Bridges had "created a hostile work environment toward the worker" and resulted in Bridges being fired.

Bridges feels that even though "obnoxious chronic body odor" is a disability protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, she was simply doing her job with staffing by meeting the concerns of other employees.

She had been working in the office for about seven years and states that she had an "exemplary and unblemished employment record."

Kevin Betz, an employment attorney unaffiliated with this specific situation, provided expert insight, stating that there "are cases in which a fellow co-worker or even a family member or friend takes protective actions or even is simply associated with the individual who is disabled" and that "they receive an adverse action at the workplace."

"That is fairly common set of facts in civil rights lawsuits," Betz added.

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