Rosen Law Office

We are awash in a sea of microwaves.  Some of these have cosmic origins.  Others carry information from satellites, cell towers, and the routers and cell phones in the office.   No one knows for sure whether ambient microwaves affect our health, and, if so, what the minimum dangerous level is.  While the effects are being studied, the technology has simply not been around long enough for science to provide an answer.

A New Mexico man has sued his neighbor for aggravating his “electromagnetic sensitivities.”   Arthur Firstenberg is seeking $530,000 in damages from Raphaela Monribot, claiming that her laptop computer, wireless router, i Phone, and dimmer switches cause him symptoms including nausea, vertigo and heart arrhythmia.   We will be interested in what a jury thinks of these claims.

Meanwhile, if an employee complains of electromagnetic hypersensitivity, the employer’s analysis is no different from any other allegation of a disability.  The first question is whether a disability exists.  Does the condition interfere with the employee’s major life activities?  This is a question to be addressed by medical professionals—the client’s doctor and your own advisors.  Our nonscientific web search raises questions of whether this sensitivity is real or imagined.

The employee may really be suffering from headache, fatigue, tinnitus, dizziness, memory deficits, irregular heart beat, whole-body skin symptoms, or other symptoms—but it may not be your router that is causing them.  “Sufferers and their support groups are convinced of a causal relationship with electromagnetic fields, but presently the scientific literature does not support such a link….  Double-blind experiments have been published, each of which has suggested that people who report electromagnetic hypersensitivity are unable to detect the presence of electromagnetic fields and are as likely to report ill health following a sham exposure, as they are following exposure to genuine electromagnetic fields.”

Even when an employer is skeptical about a claim of disability, we usually advise taking it seriously and entering into a dialog about what accommodation is reasonable.  As most of the microwave radiation probably originates outside the office, it may impossible for the individual employer to stop it.  The expense of shielding the office may be prohibitive.   If it is practical to allow the employee to work from home, that is one possibility that can be considered.  There are devices on the Internet that claim to block microwaves, although we are far from persuaded of their efficacy.

It’s possible there is nothing you can do.  If the employee has a reasonable suggestion, you might want to hold your skepticism in check and wait for other parties to fight over whether this is a real disability or not.