Workplace Smoking: Options for Employees and Legal Risks for Employees

Abstract

Across the country at work each day, many people are subjected to the dangerous and potentially deadly fumes of secondhand tobacco smoke. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified secondhand tobacco smoke in the most hazardous group of carcinogens, and some studies have shown secondhand smoke to be even more toxic than smoke inhaled directly by smokers. The U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no safe level of exposure from secondhand smoke. Employees accumulate toxins in their bodies from the presence of secondhand smoke in the workplace, and nonsmokers who work in a smoking environment increase their risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and their risk of lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent. Blue collar and service workers are disproportionately affected by secondhand smoke at their jobs, and employees of restaurants, bars and other hospitality businesses where smoking is allowed are especially likely to suffer the damaging effects of secondhand smoke.

Advocates for clean air in the workplace have seen numerous successes over the past four decades. As of January 2008, 685 local governments and 35 states (plus the District of Columbia) have laws requiring 100 percent smokefree non-hospitality workplaces and/or restaurants and/or bars. Moreover, at least two state occupational health and safety agencies have adopted regulations prohibiting smoking in certain enclosed places of employment.

However, much of the U.S. population still is not covered by a comprehensive smokefree workplace law or regulation. This law synopsis explores policy options for employees to make their workplace smokefree and legal options for employees who remain exposed to secondhand smoke on the job. Section I discusses four policy approaches that an employee might pursue with coworkers and other advocates who want to turn workplaces into smokefree environments. Section II explains three types of legal actions that an employee might be able to take against his or her employer for exposure to secondhand smoke at work.

Keywords: Employment, law, policy, public health, secondhand smoke, smokefree, smoking, tobacco, workplace, employees

JEL Classification: I1, I18, J5, J7, J58, K2,K4 ,K31, K32