culture shock
You know why I love the Canadian Headhunter? Because he’s so good at reminding me that employment law here in the US is significantly more difficult to navigate than it is north of the border.
Take, for example, his bemusement that I caution people about coaching employees on body odor.
Maybe Canadians are less litigious than Americans, or maybe there’s just less ethnic diversity there, but if I suggest to a Southeast Asian employee that perhaps their diet is the cause of their body odor, I open myself up to a nasty lawsuit for discrimination based on national origin- the tendency to eat lots of garlic or lots of curry or whatever is often based on one’s ethnic heritage. And would I have made that suggestion if the employee had been white?
It’s better just to treat the odor problem like any other performance issue and just set the expectation that it be resolved- after all, it’s not that important WHY the employee smells, it’s just important that they STOP.
This reminds me of the time CH was shocked- shocked!- that in the US, the standard is that the victim determines what constitutes sexual harassment. If an employee feels sexually harassed, you generally don’t get to argue that the accuser is oversensitive or reacting too strongly- you just have to make the behavior stop. Even if the accuser IS oversensitive, you can’t penalize him or her for it. That’s considered retaliatory action, and just increases your liability. It’s no good.
Thank you, Canadian Headhunter, for our regular dose of culture shock. Mwah!
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