Detroit Implementing Fragrance Rules

DETROIT - Perfume has a sweet smell, but it hit a sour note in one Detroit office, and pretty soon fragrances will be banned in some city buildings.

Don't hold your breath. It's just a matter of time before wearing strong perfumes, colognes, creams and deodorants will be a no-no for city employees in three buildings.

"If your deodorant isn't mild enough, you'll do well to do an unscented deodorant," said attorney John Holmquist, who has read the entire settlement between the city and the plaintiff.

Susan McBride is the employee who helped create the new policy. Working in Detroit's Planning Department, she asked repeatedly a fellow employee to stop wearing strong perfume and to get rid of a plug-in air freshener. When she felt the city didn't act quickly enough to stop it, she sued. They settled for $100,000, but have you ever heard of such a thing?

"To have it be perfume, to have it be a plug-in scent, and to have the parties be unable to work it out really is kind of unprecedented," Holmquist said.

It's just a matter of time, Holmquist says, before other people start smelling a lawsuit in their offices, too. This one opens up a can of worms all because of a bottle of perfume.

"Certainly when it comes to fragrances and odors, and, I think, most employers should say, 'Look. We're all adults. Why can't we use a rule of reason.' That would seem to be the best way," said Holmquist.

Now, employees will have to wear deodorants and soaps that are lightly scented or with no scent at all and ax the colognes and perfumes, but who makes sense of which fragrances are fuming and which ones are fair?

"It's in the nose of the beholder, really," Holmquist said. "There's no enforcement mechanism, and there's no mechanism to really set a standard about what if you feel that your scent is okay not withstanding what the supervisor feels."

A lawyer for the city of Detroit says these new rules will go into effect very soon for people who work in the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, the Cadillac Square building or the National City building.