Nut and other allergies in the office

[stephen1974]

I'm not sure any company has the right to tell it's employees what the can and can't eat.
It could control what comes on to their site, but only if employees can leave the building for lunch if they choose.
Companies that dont allow that, and there are a few, have no right to dictate on something like this, regardless of the reason.

[ddlh]

I agree Stephen - but it is common courtesy to make people aware of the issue.

In the works case I mentioned, yes it was expensive and very OTT. The person was almost victimised throughout the "investigations" and ended up at a tribunal for "constructive dismissal" which the employee won.

But the attitude and behavior of HR really set people against people when there was no legal precedent in place - and with the downturn in the Oil industry the lad with the allergy was one of the first to be paid off.

I personally feel that letting people know about the issue of the allergy is warranted but is it enforceable? Duty of care for all employees is required and half of me says it should be enforceable and the other half is not so sure.
The employment case was won because of the behaviour of HR - not the actual complaint.

A moral issue or does anyone know of any case law in similar cases?

[Messy]

[Waterbaby]

WB