I have a nut allergy and colleague eating nuts in office.

[Yewdontknowme]

I’ve been working with this company since June. It’s with a small company with two open plan rooms in the same building. There is no HR department just the owners and the general manager and supervisors. One room is nut free as myself and an intern are severely allergic, the other room is ok for nuts. We never have to go into the other office. We are allocated space based on what we do within the company and wfh isn’t an option. For the past few months everything has been great.

A supervisor has returned to our office this past fortnight after maternity leave. It seems she is really popular among the other women in the office. She has ignored all the signs and warnings and has been eating nuts at her workstation, which is making me wheeze and my throat and mouth are itching until I get away home. I’m working dosed up on piriton and with fingers crossed I don’t need to use my epipen.

Our manager is a bit of a coward so has been trying to deal with this woman calmly including offering her a space in the other room but she’s refusing to swap rooms as she wants to be with her friends and likes the bigger workspace she has. She is claiming it’s discriminating against her as a returning mother and a vegetarian and so she will continue to eat what she wants, as in her words “they’re not eating the nuts themselves so they’ll be ok”. For what it’s worth I too am a vegetarian. She also told us to get epipens. Myself and the intern can’t go into the other room as the work in there is totally different to what we do. We need the facilities in this space. Our manager has told us we need to sort it out among ourselves.

I appreciate this is a management problem but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? I’m still on probation and this woman is a long standing staff member. It took me a long time to find this job after redundancy in lockdown and I’m terrified I’ll be laid off after my probationary period runs out because of the drama this causes. I can start looking for another job but I fear it will take me over a year again.

AIBU to expect the manager to deal with this woman instead of having to sort out a ‘compromise’ myself?

FFS don’t do that. 111 will send an ambulance and somebody who actually needs one won’t get it. You don’t joke about with anaphylaxis. What an idiotic comment.

@AfterWeights In my old office we had a two floors and a free seating policy. One of them was a nut free floor where those with nut allergies could sit and where the breakfast provisions, snacks etc the company provided were all nut-free. If you wanted peanut butter etc you just went and ate on the other floor. Everyone was very accepting and supportive of this.

I've also been on aeroplanes where the crew have announced that due to a customer with a nut allergy they requested that no passengers consume nuts on the flight and keep any nuts they had brought with them sealed and packed away.

I once knew someone with such a severe nut allergy that he couldn't be in a room with nuts etc. People do get them on their hands, they touch handles and doors, etc etc.

Wow! What a selfish cow. I think you have to tell her that you could actually die at your desk. No one needs to eat nuts when there is such a risk to someone else.

Ah so you’re troll hunting which, you well know, is against @mnhq guidelines. It’s fucking insufferable as well, report the post and move on.

Nut allergies can definitely be airborne. I can’t believe people are suggesting the OP is overreacting. I teach 2 boys who both have very serious nut allergies (also allergic to other things too). They definitely react if they’re in the same room as nuts. It’s really scary to see. I can’t believe some people can be so selfish.

Hi OP

An employment tribunal ruled about people with allergies in the workplace and found they amount to a disability under the relevant legislation. Therefore employers have to make reasonable adjustments such as taking steps to minimise the risk of the sufferer coming into contact with the substance to which he is allergic. Otherwise they face direct action themselves.

I would remind HR / your manager of that. The law is on your side.

I'm in a similar position where I sit in the office it's quite clear that you can't eat certain foods near me. Only once have I had someone say it was against the human rights (ha) and that I should be moved. HR took them aside and it was not an issue again.

Do you have HR who you can approach?

I can’t believe some have voted for YABU. I guess it is those that think they know how OPs nut allergy works.

I agree contact ACAS and make detailed notes of every time this happens.

Just because something is rare it doesn’t mean the OP is lying or misinformed about her own allergy. There are billions of people in this world so although rare some people will be affected. I don’t understand why this isn’t believed. On MN you often see the ‘I’ve never experienced this or anyone that this happened to so it didn’t happen’ brigade.

OP I hope you get this sorted, totally unacceptable for this to be happening to you.

Seriously, just walk out. Refuse to be in the same room as someone eating nuts if it could seriously harm or kill you. Insist on your manager dealing with it. Put everything in writing. You need to make it more uncomfortable for your manager not to deal with this than to deal with it. And yes speak to ACAS and your Union (if you have one). This is simply unacceptable. And illegal.

The returning colleague is an absolute selfish idiot! Wtf doe’s being veggie have to do with it… I’m veggie and if I snack I don’t have to have nuts etc???

Is there a higher up manager you can report this to? You say there’s no HR in the building but is there in another office?

I have already reported the OP post but it's saturday morning and i very much doubt there is anyone around to deal with it

Your OP seems to say that the manager made your room nut free and it worked till this lady came back. Did the mgr talk her through the changes that had occurred during her mat leave including that this room is now nut free?

Team up with the other nut allergy sufferer so you present a united front. Tell him calmly and factually and then follow up in writing the details about:

• the severity of your allergies
• What happens to you when nuts are eaten in the office - do not exaggerate here but do say that you are having to take piriton daily because nuts are being eaten now.
• What the reasonable worst case could be eg would you need to use your epipen if you have one, have either of you needed an ambulance in the past etc
• What you need to have happen to ensure your safety at work - should she stop eating nuts in that room or in the whole workplace.

Agree a plan together eg he emails the anaphylaxis page to all staff for training / understanding purposes with a reminder that since you joined your room has become nut free. If one of you needs an epipen you could do an epipen administration training session and ensure everyone knows where your epipen are kept.

Be reasonable. You want to get him onside too and show that you are not the problem. Her behaviour is the issue.

If she is requested again not to eat nuts and does, then, if it makes you feel unwell, quietly tell mgr you need to go home sick as your throat is tightening and you need to go to a nut free environment to recover. He will soon twig that her selfish behaviour is impacting company productivity. If it happens a few times tell him you are going to Gp for advice. GP will prob tell you to ask the nut free room is enforced and then mgr can use that as further leverage on the nut eater.

What the CHUFF? Yes its a proper allergy!! She's got an epipen for Christ's sake. You're as bad as the woman in the office!!

This. Also deliberately exaggerating symptoms and acting out being more affected than you are will make you look the crazy one.

I do have sympathy with the OP but some of these suggestions are ridiculous.

This. It depends entirely on your workplace and how comfortable you are doing this, but I have mental health condition and I did a presentation to my team on it to raise awareness and help them understand my bad days.

My team is lovely so could do this easily but I’d understand if you felt you couldn’t do this with your team as I wouldn’t want to with people I don’t like (I.e. obnoxious selfish colleague).

Airborne allergies are really rare, but it sounds like the OP has had enough reactions in the selfish colleague's presence to identify the trigger.

A severe allergy is considered a disability, so I would go off sick and raise a formal grievance. I would ask the intern to follow the same approach as you.

The manager has panicked as the woman is (incorrectly) claiming the maternity discrimination card but hasn't realised that allergies allow you to (correctly) play the disability discrimination card, so you need to make this clear. Formal grievance. To HR.

Get your doctor to write you a note. Most won't write anything until you've been off work for 7 days, but in the circumstances, they should oblige, given your life is being endangered. When/if occupational health is brought in, they are not going to contradict what your own doctor is saying.

The grievance is important, as you don't just need the company to stop endangering you, you need this woman to be taught a lesson. People have appealed to her better nature informally and lost - it's grievance time.

It's up to you whether you just raise a grievance against her, or if you also raise one against your manager for refusing to manage.

She's explained why she hasn't been more emphatic. She's worried about losing her job.

Which is why the OP needs to make the connection for their manager that allergies = disability.

You get protection against disability discrimination from day one, not after two years.

WTAF!!!! That's absolutely shocking behaviour from this woman. Is she a bit thick? Your boss is spineless but this woman needs an education on the seriousness of food allergies.
Don't know what you can do other than challenge your boss about his lack of care towards your life threatening condition
Good luck

Call an ambulance every time you feel wheezy. Your colleagues are going to get pretty sick of your colleague causing this drama, no matter how popular she is.

🤫

I'd get a solicitor to write a letter explaining the law on this.

I had to do this in a difficult situation in a teaching job with clueless management.

Even lazy conflict-avoidant managers don't want legal stuff to come back to bite them!

Or perhaps don't use a valuable resource like paramedics and just go home sick to recover in a nut free environment.

I’d just go off sick tbh. The manger would have to do something then since he knows it’s the work environment is making you ill.

All industries are covered by the HSE.

This is contingent on the op being very clear before accepting the job that she has a nut allergy and the company needs to confirm that for the entire duration of her employment with them, they will ensure a nut free office