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Personal hygiene issues in the lab — Where to draw the line

Reader question: We’ve been getting periodic complaints about the personal hygiene of a staff member. And I’ve had a “difficult conversation” about it three times in the past eight or nine months. After the discussion, he cleans up his act for a few months, and then reverts to hygiene lapses until the complaints start, and I have to talk to him again. He’s also said that he thinks he should go out on disability leave for depression — yet he always gets his job done. He’s been with us for years and has done good work for us. I feel forced to exercise progressive discipline, but that will likely mean he’s going to be out the door soon. Any suggestions I should follow short of progressive discipline? Any way to salvage him?

Expert Comments: You may be tempted to keep “muddling through.” One more conversation may buy you another month or two of cleanliness. But this will continue to be a distraction to you and continue to disrupt others in the lab.

Here are some potential next steps:

• You could assign someone to report to you any time he has a hygiene issue as soon as he arrives. If he has not met institution standards, you can send him home to properly clean up. Tell him proper hygiene isn’t an option. At many institutions there are showers on site, so you could also send the person there instead of home. This may not be the best approach, however, because “micro-managing” someone’s hygiene is frustrating and distracting and doesn’t address the underlying issue.
• Progressive discipline likely will not work. If the person suffers from a significant depression, he will simply lose his job. At this point you should get your Human Resources (HR) department involved.

  There are larger issues than saving one person — namely, your organization probably has a personal hygiene policy, and part of your job as supervisor is to apply it. The person has also indicated he might be disabled by depression — you should have called HR as soon as the employee said that. Disability determinations, and referrals for help, are best handled by HR.

Your best approach would be to intervene through an employee assistance program (EAP), if your organization has one. You obviously want to keep the person on staff, but recognize that you may not be able to unless the underlying depression issue is addressed. His hygiene hasn’t been a problem during his past service, so something within him has changed recently. He could be doing the best he can, but his personal problems have overwhelmed him.

If the person has clinical depression, that's a real medical condition, and it could be a disability. An EAP can help him get the treatment he needs. And getting HR involved can help make sure that your company is protected from any potential legal issues, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Under the ADA, a person must be able to do their job with or without accommodation. This person appears to be able to do his job because he works every day and performs well. Although his hygiene is a problem, he’s unlikely to qualify for disability under Social Security or a private insurance plan. Perhaps he’s in the early stages of clinical depression, and with some medical care, he can start to get better.

Expert comments by an HR executive with a southeastern research university and Robert Koenisberg of Robert Koenisberg Law Office in New York, N.Y.