smoking at work question

[fadada1]

say you're the owner of a business, can you prevent your workers from smoking while at the job (including breaks)??

just curious if anyone knows the legalities behind smoking at work.

btw, i don't smoke, but some fo the folks i work with take at least 20 breaks during the day (20 cigs per pack). was wondering if i could take 20 breaks a day... just because.

[Ike]

In Michigan at least, you can even mandate that your employees not smoke while not at work.

[TopDaugIn2000]

some states are doing so, don't know about okie land though.

but I'm with you, 20 breaks a day would be NICE

[Canyonero]

why not, just go outside (not recommended for today)with them on their smoke breaks.

[Newbomb Turk]

say you're the owner of a business, can you prevent your workers from smoking while at the job (including breaks)??

just curious if anyone knows the legalities behind smoking at work.

btw, i don't smoke, but some fo the folks i work with take at least 20 breaks during the day (20 cigs per pack). was wondering if i could take 20 breaks a day... just because.

smoking laws or not, you could prevent them from doing this.

[Frozen Sooner]

say you're the owner of a business, can you prevent your workers from smoking while at the job (including breaks)??

just curious if anyone knows the legalities behind smoking at work.

btw, i don't smoke, but some fo the folks i work with take at least 20 breaks during the day (20 cigs per pack). was wondering if i could take 20 breaks a day... just because.

You can forbid them to smoke on the premises.

I've always told smokers that they're welcome to take smoke breaks but they'd come out of their lunch hour. None of them ever took me up on it.

[TopDaugIn2000]

the owner of one company I worked for offered the employees $1000 to quit, I almost started just to quit!!!!

[Okla-homey]

Generally, I believe that in Oklahoma, you can most definitely limit smoke breaks...but check any applicable union and/or employment contracts, as well as the employee manual, just to be sure smoke break frequency and duration aren't stipulated. I base this on a HR grad degree I picked up a long time ago.

FWIW, In Oklahoma you can't fire someone because they smoke when not at work.

Best bet, check with the HR department if you have one. Otherwise, check with your company's attorney.

[Frozen Sooner]

Generally, I believe that in Oklahoma, you can most definitely limit smoke breaks...but check any applicable union and/or employment contracts, as well as the employee manual, just to be sure smoke break frequency and duration aren't stipulated. I base this on a HR grad degree I picked up a long time ago.

FWIW, In Oklahoma you can't fire someone because they smoke when not at work.

Best bet, check with the HR department if you have one. Otherwise, check with your company's attorney.

You talk purty. You one of them so-lee-si-tars?

[fadada1]

we seem to have a... how shal i say it... "i don't give a **** attitude" here at shangrila. there is a definite seperation in work ethic between the golf department (mine) and food & beverage.

we've had our x-mas stuff up in the proshop since friday. they haven't even put lights on the trees yet. and santa is coming saturday morning for our member's kids. this is just one of the things they (don't do).

here's a pic of one saturday morning when i walked in the grill room:

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/2149/fcgcrandom035jq2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[fadada1]

oh, i live in PA - they just put a smoking ban into effect in philly's bars. it's hella sweet.

[Frozen Sooner]

oh, i live in PA - they just put a smoking ban into effect in philly's bars. it's hella sweet.

I can't wait until the one here goes into effect on May 1. I may actually start having a night life again.

[Partial Qualifier]

Here's how it went at my place of employment:

- Started actually enforcing the "2 15-minute breaks for an 8-hour shift" rule.
- Made a $20,000, outdoor "Smoker's Pavillion" - designated as the only area on premises where ppl could smoke.
- 3 months later, they banned all smoking on the premises, including the $20k pavillion :rolleyes:
- People would sit in their cars & smoke, so HR threatened termination if they continued to smoke in their parked cars.
- People would walk across the street to smoke in an empty field; HR threatened termination if they continued to smoke in the field across the street.
- so people started driving around a nearby neighborhood to smoke on their breaks; when the neighborhood's H.A. complained about all the traffic, HR told people to stop this practice immediately lest they be terminated.

So now, smokers can smoke as long as they take off in their cars, DON'T go in the neighborhood, don't light up before they exit the premises, finish their cig before they return, and are back at work before their allotted 15 minutes is up.

Glad I don't smoke :D

[TexasSooner01]

I am a smoker, BUT I do not take smoke breaks @ work. I keep tic tacs at my desk to hold off the craving until 5:01 P.m. :D

[jk the sooner fan]

i'm in texas......my company wont even consider you if you smoke......at home or at work, and its legal for them to do so

[SicEmBaylor]

I don't smoke, but I have never and will never agree with any state law that limits an employers right to fire, hire, or otherwise limit their employee's behavior while on the job. If an employer wants to ban his employees from smoking while they're on the clock then that's fine by me.

I also detest anti-smoking laws.

[fadada1]

i'm in texas......my company wont even consider you if you smoke......at home or at work, and its legal for them to do so
that's freaking sweet!!!!!

[fadada1]

I am a smoker, BUT I do not take smoke breaks @ work. I keep tic tacs at my desk to hold off the craving until 5:01 P.m. :D
kudos to you.

i don't think anyone should be denied the right to smoke. but if it interferes with work (i.e., 20 times a day), then it's a problem.

[mrowl]

I don't smoke, but I have never and will never agree with any state law that limits an employers right to fire, hire, or otherwise limit their employee's behavior while on the job.

so pron is ok?

[The]

Oh, the land of the free!

[SicEmBaylor]

so pron is ok?
Well, my first question would be why would any employer want their employes watching pron all day. And with that I have two comments...First, where do I fill out an application? :D And two, I think an employee definitely has that right.

[tulsaoilerfan]

kudos to you.

i don't think anyone should be denied the right to smoke. but if it interferes with work (i.e., 20 times a day), then it's a problem.
I agree;at just about every store on my route, when i go in them there is always a worker outside taking a smoke break; with all the smoke breaks some of these people take, i bet they are working at least an hour a day at their job less than a non smoker does; ridiculous:hot:

[fadada1]

here's the delio from last night at shangrila:

f&b manager - a real prize. hired from a "meeting" one of our managers had with her at the bar she worked at. 23 years old. no college experience. no work experience. "how would you like to come work at a multi million dollar facility?"

anyway, it took her 8 hours to put the x-mas lights up on the tree yesterday (multiple smoke breaks... you understand). i leave at 6pm after helping the cart boy get his work done. come into the grill room, and the ladder is still up (this is a 10 foot ladder, btw). there are probably 25 people eating/drinking and being merry. one of our members has his family out to dinner (not a cheap dinner, mind you... for not that good of food) and happens to be sitting 5 feet from the ladder - no joke. another table of 3 fellows is also 5 feet from said ladder.... still sitting quietly next to the tree.

well, i called her out. she had all day to get this silly tree decorated. i was totally ****ed. there were 3 grown men in the kitchen that were able to move this ladder.

i could go on, but i'll just get more ticked.

does anyone care about where they work anymore???

[TUSooner]

Where I work for the feds, we are allowed to smoke in our offices... if we are on fire.

I got nuthin. :O

[jeremy885]

some states are doing so, don't know about okie land though.

but I'm with you, 20 breaks a day would be NICE


Yet posting on an internet message board at work isn't a break?

[TexasLidig8r]

Texas is an "at will" state.. which basically means, that except for a constitutionally protected status, you can be fired at any time for any reason... unless you have a written employment contract.

Companies can institute and enforce dress codes, codes of conduct, including no smoking at work or at home (studies show that smokers' health costs are greater than non-smokers, which necessarily increases the premiums paid by a company for health insurance) and random drug tests.

Naturally, big dog employees who smoke the occasional cigar are exempt! :D

[sooner_born_1960]

I work with someone who prints a couple emails, takes them out to her car, and reads them while smoking. She does this every hour or so. She doesn't consider it a break. She's a division manager, so I guess it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

[MamaMia]

I don't smoke, but I have never and will never agree with any state law that limits an employers right to fire, hire, or otherwise limit their employee's behavior while on the job. If an employer wants to ban his employees from smoking while they're on the clock then that's fine by me.

I also detest anti-smoking laws.
How do you feel about an employers right not to have a person on his or her pay roll who smells like an ashtray?

[Okla-homey]

How do you feel about an employers right not to have a person on his or her pay roll who smells like an ashtray?

Unfortunately, in Oklahoma, you can't fire them over it. Well, you can, but the law says you open yourself up to a civil lawsuit. I know it succs, especially if that person is a teeth-scraper person who has to get all up in folks' grill smelling like ciggy's, but there it is.

The way the law reads, it looks like you can't even refuse to hire someone because they smoke, but depending on how paragraph 2 (below) is interpreted, you might be able to do so. What do you lawyers think? Does it apply to those already employed or potential employees?


Oklahoma Statutes Citationized
Title 40. Labor
Chapter 14 - Smoking
Section 500 - Employment Conditional on Nonsmoking

It shall be unlawful for an employer to:

1. Discharge any individual, or otherwise disadvantage any individual, with respect to compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment because the individual is a nonsmoker or smokes or uses tobacco products during nonworking hours; or

2. Require as a condition of employment that any employee or applicant for employment abstain from smoking or using tobacco products during nonworking hours.

[Mjcpr]

Can you fire a teeth scraper for having regular stank bref? What difference does it make how they got it?

[Okla-homey]

Can you fire a teeth scraper for having regular stank bref? What difference does it make how they got it?

Twer it me, I'd be careful. Anyway, don't most teef-scrapers wear gloves, a mask and one of those plastic face shield dealios? I should think they would have to be kicking some serious mouth funk to get past all that.

[Mjcpr]

It could happen. :D

[MamaMia]

Unfortunately, in Oklahoma, you can't fire them over it. Well, you can, but the law says you open yourself up to a civil lawsuit. I know it succs, especially if that person is a teeth-scraper person who has to get all up in folks' grill smelling like ciggy's, but there it is.

The way the law reads, it looks like you can't even refuse to hire someone because they smoke.
Nowhere in that law does it say that an employer cant fire someone because they smell like an ashtray. That would fall under personal hygiene.

I started a thread on this very subject because of a gal I hired who, once fully trained at my expense, all of the sudden started feeling safe enough to come to work smelling like an ashtray, even though she knew my feelings on that subject. I was neg'd for my beliefs, never to be spek'd again by some posters since. Big woo. :rolleyes:

I still stand by my right to fire stinky people, and can now say that I have done just that.

[Okla-homey]

Nowhere in that law does it say that an employer cant fire someone because they smell like an ashtray. That would fall under personal hygiene.

I started a thread on this very subject because of a gal I hired who, once fully trained at my expense, all of the sudden started feeling safe enough to come to work smelling like an ashtray, even though she knew my feelings on that subject. I was neg'd for my beliefs, never to be spek'd again by some posters since. Big woo. :rolleyes:

I still stand by my right to fire stinky people, and can now say that I have done just that.

Mom,

I respect your intent to create a pleasant environment for the employees and the patients. You go girl! Heck, the sacked employee's only remedy is to sue and if she doesn't, you're in the clear!

[fadada1]

my old man is a dentist. when he first started in his practice in rochester - mid 70's - there were 2 people in the office (30ish people) who didn't smoke (dad included). their lab (where they do all their prepwork - dentures, crown, etc...) was the smoking lounge. i remember smoke pouring out of it when you opened the door. when he left and moved to philly, only about 2 still smoked.

times have definitely changed.

[TexasLidig8r]

Mom,

I respect your intent to create a pleasant environment for the employees and the patients. You go girl! Heck, the sacked employee's only remedy is to sue and if she doesn't, you're in the clear!

Or better yet... put an arbitration clause in each employee's contract. The Texas Workforce Commission has held that they do not have jurisdiction to hear claims for unemployment benefits, lost wages, etc. because of the arbitration clause.

[Beef]

You're allowed to smoke at your desk at my office. Kinda sucks when you're a heart patient who quit smoking 7 months ago.

[Mjcpr]

You're allowed to smoke at your desk at my office. Kinda sucks when you're a heart patient who quit smoking 7 months ago.

WTF???

Where do you work, Phillip Morris?

[Beef]

My company owns the building and the owners of the company smoke.

[Okla-homey]

TU's comment about no smoking in federal buildings reminds me of a story.

Several years ago now, but long after the smoking ban in federal buildings came in, we were in DC seeing the sights with our daughter. We visited the then, senior senator from Mrs Homey's home state, and folks there were smoking up a storm.

At the end of the visit, where we got to meet Strom and have the below picture taken, I politely asked a staffer "WTF?" She replied sweetly, "Honey, we work for Strom Thurmond. He makes the rules for us, and there is nobody in this building who is willing to make him mad by trying to tell us we can't smoke if the Senator says we can."

Frankly, I always believed he prolly wasn't even aware of the ban because by then, he was pretty much a mannequin. He was very nice to take some time for us though.

That said, that's Washington for you.

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/3576/12012006112938amli1.jpg