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?

Well I won't comment on my suspicions on that front that as I'll be deleted. I'm just working on correcting information that's false.

I'd be inclined to walk over to her, wheezing heavily, ask her to stop and then collapse on her. Might not stop her but I think I'd enjoy it.

Speak to the lady in question. A colleague did to me once when I had nuts in my lunch without even thinking about it. When she politely explained it was no problem to leave them at home. She’s probably oblivious to the effect they have on you. Don’t make it a big deal, just talk to her 🙂

Have a look at my post upthread explaining the OP’s rights and the employers responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010. The OP’s allergy qualifies under the Act as a disability and the employer has already complied with the Act in making reasonable adjustment by banning the eating of peanuts in the office. They now need to enforce it by stopping the employee from breaching the lawfully protected workspace they’ve created for the OP. There’s no point in introducing another agency and complicating things when the quickest way to resolve it is for the OP to familiarise herself with the Act and then request a meeting with her manager, accompanied by a union rep or colleague, in which she should ask formally for the matter to be resolved and make her manager aware of the very real consequences of not acting.

Exactly. This is why nut free schools are no longer advised.

Although different with very little ones I guess - our nursery has switched to dairy free yogurts as they have a DC who is anaphylactic to milk now and they thought the risk of cross contamination at that age group was too high.

How can she be oblivious when there are warning notices up in the office asking people not to eat nuts, and the manager has asked her to move to the other office because of a nut allergy ? It is a big deal when the employer has made reasonable adjustment for the OP’s disability by banning the eating of nuts in her office, and posting signs to that effect.

Good advice.

No, but a paramedic would.

Agree with this. What are their plans if you go into anaphylactic shock?

Agreed. OP you have had some excellent advice on this thread as well as some not so good.

I would put the onus back on your employer to safeguard your wellbeing at work, it is just not good enough for your manager to opt out of his/her responsibilities and expect you to sort it out with this woman.

A decent employer would be all over this and not need to be told about the implications of not carrying out their duty of care. Unfortunately not all employers are decent; so just in case, the OP should keep an evidence trail as some posters have proposed, while pursuing this with her workplace. If her manager continues to be unhelpful she can involve their manager or HR.

Don't let your health be put at risk. If you need to leave the office or take sick leave, then do so. But please don't call an ambulance as suggested by someone on here, unless you need one.

The law is on her side so she needs to use that by taking more formal action that will send a strong message out, since her health and life is at immediate risk.

She’s been told it’s nut free and continues to defy this rule. So what help is bringing it up again at a staff meeting, when she’s shown herself to be very ignorant and self centered? And if anything yes she needs to be addressed individually as well as a broader message sent out to the team about it being nut-free.

This colleague May even may like the window open for all we know ? It wouldn’t necessarily make her stop eating nuts or “kick off”. That’s hardly a long term solution. And if anything she may say oh well that’s the compromise , I eat my nuts and you open the window.

OP has to be very clear and consistent that the only solution is for her to stop eating nuts now. And that this is a very serious matter. The Union, ACAS, HR - these are the type that should be involved immediately.

This. Please read this advice above OP.

I’ve had my fair share of workplace wrangles due to challenging discrimination and this here would be an open and shut case, your employers don’t have a leg to stand on.

The OP has not had excellent advise. IF she wants excellent advise she should go to Anaphylaxis Campaign who will give proper work place advice on the subject

OK, so you're arguing that the Equality Act is more relevant than the Health and Safety Act. Fine. But that does not mean OP doesn't have to follow the steps I outlined in my post. How else do you think she is going to get her employer to understand and comply with their legal obligations?! OP still needs to keep records of everything and raise a formal grievance. If it were me I'd point out the employer's legal obligations under both acts.

Briefly, it's all very well being (theoretically) protected by the law, but to actually get a clueless/lazy/passive employer to comply, you need to make some kind of credible threat that the matter could go higher.

Which means solicitor or ACAS (OP may not be able to get union support - may not be in one and even if she is they may not be willing to send someone out - often they only have volunteers to offer who haven't had much training).

So you think my advice given in a detailed post regarding the rights and responsibilities of both employer under the Equality Act 2010, which informs my work daily in this area, and is factually and legally, both correct and relevant, isn’t appropriate advice ?

Yes, the Anaphylaxis Campaign can advise, but they can’t enforce. The Equality Act can and does. The employer has already made a reasonable adjustment under the Act by making the office nut free and thereby creating a protected workspace for OP and her colleague. The colleague eating nuts is breaching that and the employer needs to be made aware of the consequences if they don’t step up and stop it.

The OP doesn’t need to introduce any other agency or complicate things further. She simply needs to familiarise herself with her rights and protected characteristics as a disabled person under the Act and then request a meeting with her manager, taking along a union rep or colleague, in which she formally requests that they take action to enforce the protected workspace they have created for her under the Act, and inform them of the possible consequences if they don’t. They’re leaving themselves wide open for legal action at the moment and if they don’t act, the OP should then contact ACAS for advice as to how to proceed.

They might not be able to enforce but OP doesnt even understand her own condition and they will be better advised to tell the employers what their responsibilities and how to handle the allergies first, then if they ignore that then get involved with the Equality Act involved

I’m not saying that the Health and Safety Act is more or less relevant. What I’m saying is that the Equality Act provides a quicker route to a solution because the employer has already complied with it to a certain extent by making reasonable adjustment for the OP’s disability. If you scroll upthread a bit I’ve posted in detail about what the Act confers - and, as you suggested yourself, I recommended asking for a formal meeting with the manager to request a resolution under the Act, specifically by enforcing the protected workspace they’ve created. I don’t see the point in complicating things when the Equality Act directly addresses the problems the OP is experiencing and which already provides the legal protection she needs.

OP please feel free to PM me if you want

To be clear to everyone on this thread - anaphylaxis isn’t automatically covered as a disability and thus under the Equality Act, whilst there have been cases of it being done it is not automatic. It depends on the specific case - so the OP may not be covered automatically. Please stop telling her she’s covered with the limited details she has shared.

OP do take the advice to take copies of everything (onto an encrypted email or pen drive so they can’t do you for that), speak to HSE and ACAS.

Have you ever been in ITU?

Did you disclose at interview? There is no need to do this by the way, just wondering why you have had a nut free room from the start? Are you on daily antihistamines or PRN?

For those saying about dairy it’s because it impacts kids, and also impacts lungs / asthma as a co existing factor - it’s significantly worse to have asthma on top of anaphylaxis.

For those saying that airlines don’t ban nuts - hmmm yes they do if they are aware there’s a person with nut anaphylaxis on board.

Nut allergy sufferers also have a high incidence to other fruits (kiwis, apples and pears most likely) - can’t remember Jo raised this but please look into cofactor pollen induced allergies

Also, is she vegetarian by choice or due to religion?

Please ignore the advice of calling an ambulance each time you feel it; you know when you need to call one, always act earlier than you need - are your colleagues epi pen trained?

you also cannot fake a seizure to the idiots saying that. It’s impossible.

The employer is already involved with the Equality Act. They’ve made reasonable adjustment under it by making the office nut free. Now the OP needs to get them to enforce it. The only thing that matters here is that the OP’s allergy is recognised as a disability by the Equality Act and the employer is obliged to make reasonable adjustment to accommodate it and to enforce that reasonable adjustment. The specific details of how she is affected by her condition are irrelevant for these purposes - the Act covers her condition and the employer is obliged to comply.

Helpfully for the OP there is new case law this week where the employment court clearly established a severe nut allergy was a disability. A report was in yesterday’s Times.

At any rate you have had some good advice here OP. To answer your original question your manager needs to sort this out effectively (but you also have a role to play in clearly communicating to the supervisor that her actions are causing you to wheeze via the airbourne allergens. She may not be that bright so you can make a brief effort to explain (and document time and date and details of your explanation)).

pam290358 · Today 11:14

I agree that your advice is good. I'd also agree with posters who say to give it both barrels, so to speak; use HSE regs too.

There's a good argument that the employer knows that it's a hazardous environment, because it's a designated nut-free area, with a number of signs pointing that out

it's terrifying how serious a nut allergy is. I can't imagine eating nuts at work knowing a colleague had a nut allergy.

Every work place should have an epi pen. Every chemist should give one immediately without prescription. Every first aid pouch should contain one. I don't have a nut allergy, it just beggars belief that such easy measures aren't in place

Is there somewhere you can report your employer?

I would be looking for a new job to be honest.