Benefits May 26, 2005

Fired DJ Wins $10M Jury Award in Perfume Suit

May 26, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A federal court jury has awarded $10.6 million to a Detroit disc jockey whose severe allergy to a colleague's perfume ultimately led to her being fired by a country music radio station.
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Infinity Broadcasting Corp.-owned WYCD-FM in Southfield, Michigan, discriminated against Erin Weber, the station’s top-rated midday disc jockey, the jury declared in its verdict, Reuters reported.

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Weber’s suit claimed her violent reaction to “toxic chemicals” which had been spilled in the radio station’s studio in 1999 caused her to suffer chemical burns in her airways, vocal chord swelling, difficulty breathing, and laryngitis, according to the Reuters report.

The other effect of the toxic chemicals also was an increased sensitivity to Weber’s colleague’s perfume. Her doctors warned of her severe allergy to the perfume worn by an afternoon disc jockey, saying further exposure could risk “the possibility of death,” according to the report.

Weber’s suit said the station retaliated against her after she filed a discrimination complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She argued that she was forced to miss work because the station did not accommodate her health issues, which contributed to her 2001 firing.

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