When Treating One Worker’s Allergy Sets Off Another’s

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s a case of King Solomon meets the Americans With Disabilities Act.

In her first week at a new job, Emily Kysel suffered an allergy attack so severe that she had to go home early one day. A co-worker was eating buffalo wings at her desk, and the wings contained paprika, to which Ms. Kysel, 24, has a rare and potentially fatal allergy.

She nearly died five years ago from eating chili, and since then her allergy has sent her to the emergency room five times and caused her to jab herself with an anti-allergy injection 11 times, sometimes from just inhaling paprika nearby.

Fearing a fatal encounter with paprika, Ms. Kysel’s parents and grandparents chipped in to buy her an allergy-detection dog, which works much like a narcotics-sniffing dog. After she had extensive talks with her employer, the City of Indianapolis, officials gave her permission to take the dog to work. The golden retriever, named Penny, cost her family $10,000 — it jumps up on Ms. Kysel whenever it detects paprika.

On the first day Ms. Kysel took Penny to work, one of her co-workers suffered an asthma attack because she is allergic to dogs. That afternoon Ms. Kysel was stunned when her boss told her that she could no longer take the dog to work, or if she felt she could not report to work without Penny, she could go on indefinite unpaid leave. She was ineligible for unemployment compensation because of the limbo she was put in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/us/11spice.html

Sooner or later, you're going to encounter paprika or peanuts or whatever. I'm not denying that people have severe allergies - just bemoaning that medical science can't help them.

There are dozens of causes, and a huge genetic factor, so there will never be a single magic bullet.

Actually, there IS a single magic bullet, but it's not one that most people want. Allergies, at their core, are an immune disorder. People with severe allergies can take immunosuppressants to completely eliminate their symptoms, but in doing so they become susceptible to opportunistic infections and other diseases (just like transplant patients or those with AIDS). I've only ever known one person who took them, and that's because she had life threatening pollen allergies. Not your normal "sneezing and runny nose" pollen allergies, but full blown anaphylactic shock. Her options were to take immunosupressants, or live her life in a filtered bubble. She chose to stay out of the bubble.

It's not an option that most would choose though.

It's rude and inconsiderate anyway, regardless of allergies. We're no longer in the era where everyone eats lunch at the same time.

THEY CALL FOR OVER THE TOP KNEE JERKING!!

BAN DOGS AND SPICES OTHER THAN SALT AND PEPPER FROM THE WORKPLACE NOW!!

I do not get a paid lunch break. I am salary and stepping away from my desk even long enough to wash my hands before gulping down a few crackers and cheese means every big wig in the company decides that's the moment to come looking for me or call me with some massive crisis that cannot wait long enough for me to pee.

And now I am rude as well?

With the proliferation of "service" dogs beyond leader dogs for the blind, this was bound to happen.

Refusing to accommodate the paprika allergy sufferer on behalf of the dog allergy sufferer is unfair. Likewise the reverse. This is an unintended consequence of the ADA, and it's a doozy.

But maybe the employer in this instance ought to look into telecommuting for these two employees. Cheapest solution by far. Of course then there's the issue of "workplace" injury for telecommuters...

Assuming everything said true and work has to be done in the office, then one person has to change jobs. Since it appears to be civil service, presumptively the more senior person gets to stay.

I am surprised that this has not come up before, so presumptively there is precedent.

:shrug:

Since they have taken numerous good faith efforts to eliminate paprika in the work environment, the dog is not needed there. There are no measures that can be taken for the person with the dog allergy. If its shown that despite all the good faith efforts to remove paprika there is still regular exposure, it would have to be revisited.

A while back I was on a flight were not only did they not serve peanuts, they asked anyone who had them not to open them up. That makes good sense though hard to enforce. Many people do not understand just how dangerous it can be.

FFS, we've become a nation of people who are fatally allergic to the most common shit out there.

of course it was a simpler time too.. This whole peanut thing is nuts (intentional pun)..

Who would have ever thought that people could die from being in the same room with a damned peanut?

and I also never knew anyone with asthma..and now every 3rd kid seems to have it..

I guess I might have even been "allergic' to perfume, since I often would sneeze when a particularly "fumed" lady would get into an elevator with me, but I just dabbed my nose after the sneezing fit, put the kleenex in my pocket, and went on with my day..

My youngest son did turn out to be allergic to wasp-bee stings, but after many years of carrying an epi pen with him, he managed to get stung a few weeks ago, and had no after effects (he did not have a pen with him). He did go to the nearest ER & told them he was allergic & had been stung.. they watched him for a while and he had no after-effects.

the whole service dog thing is a stretch for me. Seeing eye dogs are one thing, but a sniffer-dog?..

there are probably more people who are "allergic" to dogs than to paprika..

I didn't meet anyone with a peanut allergy until I was in high school (late 80s to early 90s). Before that, I knew some people with asthma but that's about it. I'd never heard of perfume or scent allergies until the mid-90s and there's still no medical evidence to suggest that this is a real allergy and not just a sensitivity in most people. It's going to be interesting, possibly hilarious and definitely scary to see what happens as we run into more situations like this.

While my opinion is in no way based on medicine or biological knowledge, I have a feeling that the over-protection and alarmism about any sort of germs is helping these allergies develop. When I was a kid I played in the dirt in the back yard. I rode my bike through fields and wooded areas. I played with animals. I got stitches, I sprained ankles, I ate a wide variety of food. I was allowed to be a kid and get dirty and sometimes get hurt.

I'm not allergic to anything.

Perhaps in the past people just died of 'natural causes' or something non-specific.

This story is full of new things for me - I'd never heard of a paprika allergy and I'd never heard of a sniffer-dog in that sense. It does seem like they should be able to work in different areas, or telecommute, or something. Or, a food ban for the office (with some exceptions for people who can't go long periods without eating) seems like it would solve it...

:shrug:

asthma kills, and it frustrates me that some people i care about refuse to control their asthma or to restrict their exposure to their allergies (animal dander) -- they will die years before their time but at least it's their choice

this woman didn't choose to be exposed to the dog, and let's be honest -- a paprika-sniffing dog somewhat doesn't pass the "smell test" for me

i KNOW that a severe asthma attack can kill, paprika on the other hand...well...i'm taking the lady's word for it, but frankly, as another poster says, one of the employees has to go if they're both going to die by staying there, and you can either go by seniority or you can go by the tried-and-true "the weirdo has to go" and the whole "i need a dog at work to sniff your lunch" thing is just plain weird...

her accommodation should be that no one brings paprika to work, NOT that she gets to bring a damned dog to work

it would be a more interesting problem if she had an issue that actually required a dog that is, she was blind, for a strong example, then it would be a true dilemma -- but truly she doesn't need a dog, she needs a ruling from the boss that nobody brings paprika to work, then everybody's happy

http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient-ff#hl=en&source=hp&q=paprika+allergy&aq=f&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=3006977e60cf6e0c

severe allergic reactions - that stop your breathing for instance - I think does take precedence over "dander allergy" which from what I understand (I could be wrong, so please correct me if I am, do not cause this immediate severe reaction in people)

Though you are probably on to something about the "paprika ban" being an option...

my question is, doesn't this place have another location for either worker to work?

"I was looking on line and came upon a chat about beer allergies and there is a whole list of mysterious symptoms that people are putting together as beer allergies – rashes on the palms of the hands, debilitating headaches (not in proportion to the amount of beer drunk, by the way), rashes on the chin, nausea and vomiting, again not in the sense of hangover. It’s also all different beers for different people. Some seem to have trouble with big name domestics, while that is the kind that my husband tolerates best. Others have trouble with more designer beers or just any kind of beer, but not other types of alcohol. That could be more of a wheat or yeast reaction, I think."

http://www.beyondallergy.com/food-allergies/beer-allergy.php

in fact i'm fairly sure i'm considered one of the most nutty! :-)

I am allergic to normal people :)

:thumbsup:

Beer also causes STD and pregnancy. Bad stuff, stay away from it.