A federal employee was formally reprimanded this month for excessive workplace flatulence, a sanction that was delivered to him in a five-page letter that actually included a log of representative dates and times when he was recorded “releasing the awful and unpleasant odor” in his Baltimore office.



In a December 10 letter accusing him of “conduct unbecoming a federal officer,” the Social Security Administration employee was informed that his “uncontrollable flatulence” had created an “intolerable” and “hostile” environment for coworkers, several of whom have lodged complaints with supervisors.



The worker, a 38-year-old Maryland resident, reportedly provided evidence that he suffered from “some medical conditions” that, at times, caused him to be unable to work full days. But a SSA manager noted in the reprimand letter that, “nothing that you have submitted has indicated that you would have uncontrollable flatulence. It is my belief that you can control this condition.”



A redacted copy of the letter was recently circulated among officers of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents the SSA worker. Contacted today at his office, the employee said, “I can’t talk to you about this, I’m sorry.” The employee is being represented in connection with the reprimand by a lawyer for his union, AFGE Local 1923. Cynthia Ennis, president of the Baltimore-based local, did not respond to e-mail and phone messages about the matter.



The SSA worker is pictured with his wife in the above photo, which apparently was taken at an amusement park (yes, he is standing at the left shoulder of someone dressed as Pepe Le Pew). The employee is a claims authorizer at the SSA center that handles disability cases for the entire country.



According to the letter of reprimand--which is the least severe administrative sanction that can be levied against a federal worker--the man was first spoken to about his flatulence during a May 18 “performance discussion” with his supervisor. He was informed that fellow employees had complained about his flatulence, and that it was “the reason none of them were willing to assist you with your work.” The supervisor referred the employee to a SSA unit for “assistance with what could have been a medical problem that was affecting everyone in the module.”



Two months later, on July 17, a second SSA manager spoke with the man “in regards of your releasing of bodily gas in the module during work hours.” The manager asked the employee if he could “make it to the restroom before releasing the awful and unpleasant odor.” She also recounted what appeared to be a prior conversation during which the worker suggested that he would “turn your fan on when it happens.” The manager recalled advising him that, “turning on the fan would cause the smell to spread and worsen the air quality in the module.”



On August 14, a third administrator--a SSA “Deputy Division Director”--spoke with the worker about his “continuous releasing of your bodily gas and the terrible smell that comes with the gas.” The manager noted that the worker had said he was lactose intolerant and planned to purchase Gas-X, an over-the-counter remedy. The manager informed the employee that he “could not pass gas indefinitely and continue to disrupt the work place.”



Despite these repeated warnings, the man apparently continued to struggle with his flatulence throughout the late-summer and fall.



After stating that, “It is my belief that you can control this condition,” the author of the reprimand letter then noted, “The following dates show the time of your flatulence.” What followed was a log listing 17 separate dates (and 60 specific times) on which the employee passed gas. For example, the man’s September 19 output included nine instances of flatulence, beginning at 9:45 AM and concluding at 4:30 PM.



The man was also accused of launching a trio of attacks on September 11.



The reprimand letter does not reveal how the worker’s flatulence was memorialized, nor whether that unfortunate task fell to labor or management.



The letter’s author wrote that the employee’s conduct had been “discourteous, disrespectful, and entirely inappropriate,” and was worthy of a formal sanction, which is placed in a worker’s personnel files for up to one year. The reprimand, the manager noted, “is the least severe penalty available to impress upon you the seriousness of your actions and is necessary to deter future misconduct.” (5 pages)

JANUARY 11--The Social Security Administration has withdrawn a reprimand letter issued last month to an employee who was accused of excessive workplace flatulence that created an “intolerable” and “hostile” environment for coworkers.



The “official reprimand,” issued to the 38-year-old male worker on December 10, was quickly rescinded after SSA senior managers got wind of the proposed sanction. The letter's withdrawal came days before TSG disclosed its existence in a December 21 story, according to SSA spokesperson Mark Hinkle.



The employee, a claims authorizer who works out of an SSA office in Baltimore, hung up on a reporter when reached this morning at his desk (though he is surely happy to have the matter behind him).



The SSA worker is seen at right in the adjacent photo, which was apparently snapped during an amusement park trip that included a visit with someone dressed as Pepe Le Pew.



The SSA employee was represented by the American Federation of Government Employees union, officials of which recently circulated a redacted copy of the reprimand letter.



The five-page letter accused the worker of “conduct unbecoming a federal officer” and included a log of representative dates and times when the man was recorded “releasing the awful and unpleasant odor.”



According to the letter, a SSA supervisor first spoke to the worker about his “uncontrollable flatulence” in mid-May 2012. In two subsequent meetings with other agency administrators, the worker was confronted about his frequent release of “bodily gas” and how the resulting “terrible smell that comes with the gas” was disrupting the workplace.



The reprimand letter recounted a conversation during which the worker suggested to a SSA manager that he would turn on his fan “when it happens.” The manager recalled advising him that, “turning on the fan would cause the smell to spread and worsen the air quality in the module.”



The letter also included a log listing 17 separate dates (and 60 specific times) on which the employee reportedly passed gas. “The following dates show the time of your flatulence,” a manger wrote as an introduction to the log, which revealed that the man’s September 19 output included nine instances of flatulence, beginning at 9:45 AM and concluding at 4:30 PM.



SSA administrators did not reveal how the man’s September-to-November flatulence was memorialized.



Claiming that the worker’s “distasteful behavior” was “discourteous, disrespectful, and entirely inappropriate,” the letter’s author concluded that, “It is my belief that you can control this condition.”



The reprimand letter--the least serious sanction that can be leveled against a federal employee--could have landed in the man’s personnel file for up to one year. The letter's purpose, the author noted, was “to impress upon you the seriousness of your actions and is necessary to deter future misconduct.” (5 pages)