We are all adults now, or so we think. The Daily Herald circled back around to discuss how a workplace peanut butter incident resolved in, “Revisiting Peanut Butter in the Workplace“. You might recall the situation when a peanut allergic employee asked a coworker to not bring peanut butter sandwiches to work, someone smeared the allergen on the employee’s desk causing an allergic reaction. The supervisor did not support the employee by saying that the employee could not dictate what others eat. Once calling the police was discussed, the person (not the PB sandwich eating colleague), who smeared the allergen confessed and was fired.
The harsh reality is that emotional response and behavior don’t magically change when children hit the age of eighteen. I reminded my own son as he headed off to college of his own pediatrician stating that the teen brain does not stop developing until the around the age of twenty-four! Therefore, he advised, that my son refer to a trusted adult when exploring big decisions. This practice continues our whole life as we all continue to learn more and more everyday as we reach out to others for information. Unfortunately, in the peanut butter desk smearing incident, education about life-threatening food allergies was missing. I feel safe in predicting that if the perpetrator knew their action could have killed their co-worker, that person would have assessed if they were truly hoping to commit murder or not.
Allergic Living Magazine published a very popular piece, “Food Allergy Meets the Teen Brain“, which I believe should be read by all Human Resource Directors and adults with food allergies. Why? The article leads readers through the life cycle of a person wrestling with the need to fit in, impulse control and then mastering life with a very confusing disease. These young people are all now emerging into our work force, who are equipped with information and support. But…
what about people in our current workforce? Have they missed out on vetted scientific and medical based information about life-threatening food allergies and how to manage this in the workplace? I would say yes, since these folks are the same parents we sometime battle within the school setting!
I truly hope that the food allergy management conversation continues. I was sad to hear the employee was fired, as I am confident in my glass half full thinking that the person did not start out their morning with the hopes of losing their job. I do believe that even though we embrace health privacy laws, if a person has a disease that impacts the group, they have an ethical duty to share that information and they have the right to request reasonable accommodations. Thus starting an honest and important conversation.
Here are a few resources to help all of us understand managing food allergies in the workplace:
- Managing Food Allergies at Work – Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) shares several links highlighting information for both the employer and employee.
- Accommodating Food Allergies in the Work Place – Human Resources Executive Online offers an article providing tips for employers.
- Americans With Disabilities Act, ADA Amendment Acts of 2008 and much more! – Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT) Civil Rights Advocacy website page is chocked full of links regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Panera, Ex-Worker Settle Food Allergy On Job Harassment Case – Allergic Living Magazine news report
Let’s keep that food allergy conversation going! My family’s viewpoint is that food allergies don’t define us, but they are part of who we are.
Disclaimer: First, thank you Pixabay for use of your wonderful stock images! None of the businesses or organizations mentioned in this piece paid me to write about them or this topic. I am honored to be on the Allergic Living Magazine team and am thrilled to reference important articles whenever possible. My goal is to provide information that you might find helpful, or not. For each of us the journey is unique and the more we share, the larger the opportunity for us to find solutions.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
