Woman says claims stink

It began with a petition passed between workmates, complaining about the "smorgasbord of female smells" that had been bothering staff for months.

The colleague they blamed was away on her Christmas holiday, enjoying three weeks of camping with her husband and two daughters. She knew nothing of the letter.

"This smell has its good days and its not-so-good days," wrote one Sky TV employee, " ... where it is absolutely unbearable and I find myself dry-retching from the stench."

In response, Sky TV had the air conditioning checked. The filters were changed. A fragrance-emitting unit and a fresh-air vent were moved for optimum air circulation.

By October, with complaints continuing, a female employee was called in to speak to the women about personal hygiene.

The smell lingered and, by January 2002, had become "unbearable".

Three more letters were sent to management.

The personnel officer wrote "on many occasions the smell was so bad I would have to leave the room. I cannot say what this smell is or what causes it but I am sure that it comes from [the woman]."

Another staffer said the smell became worse in hot weather and a third wrote demanding more be done.

All the office workers blamed their colleague of four years, a chatty mother of teenage children who when she found out - from another workmate, over an awkward lunch - resigned her job. "It was just bullshit," the woman told the Herald on Sunday just days after learning the Employment Relations Authority had turned down her appeal of constructive dismissal.

Four years after the smell allegations, she is still visibly shaken by what went on at work. She insists there never was a smell, that she showered and wore deodorant and, sometimes, perfume.

"It was a shower before work and sometimes before bed ... just normal, you know?"

Her doctor confirmed that she had no personal hygiene problems, writing: "I have never noted any odour and carefully checked for this on both of her recent consultations. She has no medical problems which would be associated with any odour or lack of personal hygiene."

It was, the woman said, nothing more than a vicious rumour. "What can I do to prove it? I had doctors' letters ... what more can you do? They were like dogs with bones. They were quite bullying. No - they were manipulative."

Hers was the only corner in the office left draped with Christmas tinsel, she said - a supervisor refused to take it down until the "big girl" left the room.

She said she was introduced as "the rottweiler" to representatives of another company. On the day she was told of the odour allegations, a supervisor name-tagged all the chairs in the office - her colleagues didn't want her sitting in their chairs, she guessed.

"It was like being in a classroom of kids. It got to the point where I just clocked in and I clocked out."

The woman says she was simply victimised and harassed. Employment experts who have read the ERA decision agree. It was a classic example of group behaviour gone wrong, said Felicity Lamm, employment relations and health and safety expert at Auckland University. "Being singled out and humiliated does huge psychological damage ... " she said. "Those other employees probably don't, even now, realise what they've done."

Workplace bullying and human resources expert Andrea Needam said she was "not impressed" with the authority's decision. "I think it's really lacking in substance, it looks very pre-determined by the member."

The odour allegations could have been a psychological bullying tactic, she said.

"You can actually down someone pretty quickly by saying they smell."

If there had been a genuine problem, she wondered why it had taken so long for the woman to be alerted. "I personally would have gone and talked to the person straight up and said 'You don't know it, but you have got a problem'."

One week into a new job - "if I smelled, I'm sure I wouldn't be working there" - the woman is not sure whether she had the strength to appeal again.

She said for two years she had been scared to walk out her front gate, and avoided driving her daughters to school. She was still depressed and suffered from panic attacks.

"I have become a hermit ... I get scared, I get absolutely petrified of people when they start whispering."

Sky employee John Sigglekow, the woman's manager at the time, said he was not allowed to comment.

Sky chief executive John Fellet did not know details of the case and said he had never heard of any complaints of workplace bullying within the company.

"It seems highly unlikely and I think that in this case the court tended to agree."

Fight body odour

* Diet - drink plenty of water, eat a balanced diet; cut back on foods high in lecithin, choline or cantine (soy products, corn, wheat, chocolates, nuts, raisins, cereals, eggs). Avoid caffeine and alcohol.

* In the bath - use an antibacterial soap all over. Add a tablespoon of honey, vinegar or camphor oil to bathwater.

* Clothes - wear loose, cotton clothes and avoid synthetic fibres. Deodorant/antiperspirant - look for products containing aluminium chlorohydrate or zirconium.

* Medicines - some can affect body odour. Check with your doctor.