Employee Body Odor, Background Checks, and Costume Contests

Welcome back to another edition of HR Basecamp Roundup! This week, we tackle some interesting and common issues that come up in workplaces more often than you think. If you haven’t joined our HR Basecamp Facebook group yet, be sure to join so you can participate in these discussions in real time!

Resources in this Roundup:

• • CEDR’s Background Check Partner: National Crime Search

• • When Should I Do a Background Check (and Where Should I Go to Do It)?

• • Episode 202: How to Address Employee Hygiene

• • Halloween Celebration Team Memo

I’ve had several employees complain about another team member’s body odor. Truthfully, I’ve noticed it as well and it’s only a matter of time before a patient brings it up. How can I talk to the employee about this without making it super awkward?

The legal side of things: There aren’t any laws that address body odor in particular. However, there is a chance that the employee’s body odor is somehow related to a medical issue. If that’s the case, you may need to go beyond simply addressing the issue with the employee and might need to provide some sort of accommodation if the employee requests it.

Now for the human approach: First things first, watch our complimentary webinar on addressing personal hygiene in the workplace here for more guidance.

As an overview, step one is to have a private conversation with the employee. Be direct, but tactful. It’s possible that they aren’t aware of how noticeable the smell is and the impact it’s having on others. As weird as it can feel to outright tell an employee that they smell bad, it’s much better to be direct than to dance around the issue and essentially make the employee guess what you’re trying to say.

We’ll be honest – the conversation will likely be awkward. That comes with the subject matter. To help make things easier, acknowledge that this is an awkward conversation for you as well, and you don’t mean to make the employee feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.

Be sensitive. You don’t want to come off as though you are criticizing the employee. Break the news gently by saying, “You may not realize…” or “If I were you, I would want to know…”

We recommend that you start by saying it’s a problem you’ve noticed. You don’t want to make the employee feel worse by giving the impression that the whole office is talking about them. If the employee refuses to believe you, then tell them that you have received complaints from other employees or patients.

If the employee’s offensive body odor continues even after you’ve discussed it, inform them that coming to work unclean or unkempt is unprofessional and disrupts productivity. Put the employee on notice that they must come to work clean smelling and appropriately groomed immediately. If they do not, take appropriate disciplinary action. For instance, you could send the employee home (without pay) to freshen up and issue a written warning.

Extra Credit Listening: Episode 202: How to Address Employee HygieneThe background check came back for an office manager I’m excited to bring onto the team. Unfortunately, it came back with a hit for a previous conviction for a DUI. Does this mean I should revoke the job offer?

The legal side of things: Before you make any employment decisions based on criminal history, make sure you’ve gotten that information through a trusted background check company – no Google searches! CEDR’s trusted partner for this is National Crime Search.

Leaving this to the professionals helps ensure you’re finding accurate information about the right person. A google search or other background check tool on the internet can lead you to information about the wrong person with the same name, or information about arrests rather than convictions.

True background check companies should be filtering the information they find to ensure that the information you are getting is only what you are legally allowed to use. Many states and cities have passed some sort of criminal history law that limits what information employers are permitted to consider, and when in the hiring process that information can even be accessed.

These laws can be quite varied. In several states and cities, you are not allowed to consider criminal history until a conditional job offer has been accepted. It’s very common to only be legally able to consider convictions rather than arrests, and only convictions that are within a certain amount of time (commonly 7 or 10 years).

If you find information that makes you consider withdrawing an offer, your law may even have a mandatory process you have to go through to communicate that to your applicant and give them an opportunity to respond to your concerns or provide information regarding the alleged criminal record.

Finally, in many cases, employers can only consider criminal history that is directly related to the position the person is applying for. Even if the law doesn’t specify this, CEDR recommends viewing a criminal record through this lens.

Now for the human approach: If you used a background check company to find out about the DUI, and are certain that you are legally able to use information about the DUI under your state and local law, you’re able to move forward with a decision. If either of these items aren’t true, take the extra time you need to ensure you’re going about this in the legal way we’ve described here.

You can consider revoking your job offer if you feel like the DUI is relevant to the office manager position and you feel it’s disqualifying. For example, if this individual will be asked to attend a lot of events or to be driving for work purposes often, then not having a clean driving record may be of high concern to you. On the other hand, if driving is not a major component of their job duties, you may find (as many managers and business owners do) that a single DUI is not a disqualifier. This is often particularly the case if it’s been several years since the conviction.

If you do have concerns about this, you can ask the applicant about it. They are surely going to know that they have this on your record, and they should know you were running a background check, so this conversation isn’t necessarily going to be a surprise to them.

The goal of the conversation should be to confirm the information is actually true, and give the potential employee an opportunity to explain the circumstances. By keeping the questioning open, you can get a feel for how the incident took place and what the candidate learned from the experience.

Their explanation may make you feel more comfortable about their ability to be successful in the office manager role, in which case you can certainly move forward with hiring. If by contrast you continue to have concerns, then you can withdraw the job offer. Just be sure to be following any process required by your state or local laws around this.

Extra credit reading: When Should I Do a Background Check (and Where Should I Go to Do It)?We are having a Halloween party for the first time and there will be a costume contest. I’ve heard some of the costume ideas floating around and I’m a little concerned they won’t be work appropriate. Should I scratch the costume idea altogether or do I need to pull employees aside when I hear them talking about “sexy nurse” versions of their normal work scrubs?

The legal side of things: No need to cancel the contest! You can absolutely have a compliant holiday party, costumes included. The key is to keep it voluntary. For example, an employee may not want to dress up based on a religious belief, and mandating costumes could infringe on their right to religious freedom, or in some instances, they may have other reasons that are protected under anti-discrimination laws.

You may have an employee who hates the idea of this “forced work fun” and feels they’re being forced to go out and spend money on a costume. Making it very clear that this is a voluntary activity is key.

Finally, your employee handbook policies – and employment laws – still apply. This means that things still need to be professional, and you don’t want a situation where one person’s costume makes another employee uncomfortable, or an employee is receiving inappropriate comments based on their own costume.

Now for the human approach: The best way to avoid any issues is to set guidelines and notify your staff of those guidelines well before the event. You can set restrictions around what kind of costumes are allowed while still giving your employees creative freedom. Keep in mind that what one person finds funny and tasteful another will not. For that reason, it’s helpful to be specific in your communications to the team, especially if you’re already concerned about some employees’ costumes crossing a line.

We recommend using a team memo to inform your staff about the costume guidelines. Again, you should give them plenty of notice so they know what’s off limits from the get go. The memo should also make it clear that participation is not required and tell employees who to talk to if they have questions. CEDR members can download a sample memo in backstageHR.