An employee at Kohberg’s industrial bakery in Southern Jutland smelled such strong perspiration that he was fired, Danish wrote Fagbladet3f.

Now he has won a compensation case against his former employer.

He worked for Denmark’s largest bakery for twelve years before the smell of sweat got too bad for his colleagues and his boss, the trade magazine wrote.

His problems started in the fall of 2021, when he switched from working as a night watchman to working more closely with his colleagues on the day shift.

The man who was laid off explained to the Danish Dismissal Board that he did everything he could to maintain cleanliness by changing into his work clothes and taking a shower before each shift, but especially in the summer heat inside the bakery.

The dismissal came in August 2022, after he first received a verbal and two written reprimands from bosses.

“Unfortunately, I have to send you home due to poor hygiene/strong sweat smell, which is very upsetting to your colleagues in the department”, the boss said in the first warning.

Managing Director of the Kohberg Bakery Group, René Normann Christensen, told Fagbladet3f that the layoffs were related to food safety.

– Kohberg is a responsible food company, and to ensure the quality of our bread, we have very high and unwavering hygiene requirements in all our bakeries.

However, the assembly considered that the dismissal letter did not refer to cleanliness, but rather the pungent smell of sweat which was the focus. Therefore, they gave NOK 85,000 to the person who was laid off as compensation for the unfair dismissal.