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There has been a long debate between employers and employees about smoke breaks and discrimination towards smokers. Many times both smokers and non smokers may have many questions about their rights as employees in a company. Given below are some of the most commonly asked questions about the smoke break policies: Is it possible for an employer to prevent his/her employees from smoking during working hours?
There may be no laws that state that employers must allow employees to smoke during working hours. Many times employers may only hire non smoking employees. In most cases, these employers include hospitals, health care providers and police and fire departments. Thanks to the awareness of the harmful affects of smoking, many organizations have now become smoke free and have no smoke policies. Can smokers be given paid breaks when non smokers are not in the state of Michigan?
The state of Michigan does not require its employers to give paid breaks to employees. The employer may decide which employees get paid breaks and which don’t. This may not be considered to be illegal unless the decision of the employer is based on race, religion, age, gender or disability. In most situations, employers may provide their employees with similar break pays. This may not ensure that all employees will get paid breaks. Can an employer stop the employees from smoking during lunch breaks?
If the employee is not clocked in, then the employer may not be able to stop the employee from smoking. Hence, he/she, in most situations may not be stopped from smoking during lunch breaks. However, if the employer has a smoke free work environment and if the employees are not allowed to leave the office even during lunch breaks, then they may be prohibited from smoking. He/she may also stop the employee from smoking if it has a negative impact on the work environment. Does a smoker have any rights at the workplace?
A smoking person may not have any special rights in the workplace. Since they are not a protected class, smokers may not be able to claim any smoking related rights. The employer may hold the right to prevent an employee from smoking and not giving him/her smoke breaks. The employer can also increase the health care premiums of the employees who smoke if he/she wants to do so. Will it be considered illegal if the drivers of a company are given smoking privileges but the workers of the office are prohibited from smoking?
It may be considered legal if an employer has different set of rules for different classes of employees. There is no state or federal law that expect an employer to have a specific set of rules for all the employee unless these rules create workplace discrimination based on gender, race, age or disability. One may have a lot of questions about one’s rights regarding smoking in a workplace irrespective of whether one is a smoker or non smoker. One may ask an employment lawyer if one has any questions about the smoking policies of different companies.
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