A reader writes:
I work at a small rural library in a blue state and I’ve been here for over five years, in the field for over a decade.
The chair of our library trustees, “Lee,” is also the chair of our town’s board of health. I started here in 2020, and we all worked together to reopen to the public in a safe manner during 2021. We still have a few of our “masks optional” flyers floating around the building. I knew that our community was moving away from masking but I wanted to set the tone that, as we live in a town with many vulnerable community members, we ask for people to respect the masking choices of others.
I recently hired a new part-time staff member, “Amber.” She has consistently worn a KN95 mask during the interview process and now as a staff member. My assistant director and I have no concerns about her choice to mask.
When I was out of town at a work event, my assistant director told me that Lee came in, asked Amber to remove her mask, and was visibly frustrated when she declined to.
I sent an email about a different topic to my trustees today and received a response from Lee bringing up Amber masking, implying that she’s being unreasonable and this is part of her “persona” and, as such, is unprofessional. I replied and said Amber had been wearing a mask through the hiring process, and I felt asking for additional details was inappropriate, and assumed that she or someone in her life needed the additional protection of masking. Lee thinks this is unprofessional behavior and potentially wants to escalate this to a formally documented medical accommodation.
I don’t understand this at all. It seems so excessive! I guess partially I’m looking for confirmation that this is wacky behavior from Lee. Do you have any advice for how I should proceed in this situation?
I will indeed confirm this is wacky behavior; Lee sounds like someone with a political interest in opposing masking (and they’re the chair of the board of health too!). It would be one thing if Lee were raising concerns that Amber was difficult to hear or might have trouble signaling approachability to patrons — neither of which would be reasons to ask her to stop masking in most situations, but would at least be more reasonable to raise — but the objection is just because it’s unprofessional? And part of her “persona”?
Wearing a mask is no more unprofessional than using a cane is, and Amber shouldn’t need a formally documented medical accommodation to continue doing it. It makes sense to ask an employee to formalize an accommodation when it’s something that might be onerous for the employer to provide; simply allowing someone to continue wearing a mask does not meet that bar. It would be like asking someone to seek formal medical accommodations for anything else you could easily and happily accommodate, like providing an ergonomic chair or letting someone leave early next Monday for a doctor’s appointment. Lee (and everyone else) could just assume that Amber is masking for medical reasons and proceed accordingly.
You might ask Lee to clarify whether they’re saying your organization prohibits masking without formal accommodations. And either way, you should talk to whatever HR you have about whether that is in fact the case; they might shut this down completely once they hear about it.
Otherwise, though, if Lee has the power or the inclination to make life difficult for Amber, formalizing the accommodation might be the safest thing for her to do.