ShareThe recent announcement by CVS pharmacies to eliminate the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products prompts a review of the employment statutes that pertain to smoking by employees. In brief, employers can limit or prohibit smoking on the job, but not outside the course of employment.
Section 31-40q of the Connecticut General Statutes protects the rights of non-smokers by allowing employers to segregate smokers from non-smokers, to have separate smoking rooms, and to restrict and ventilate smoking rooms so that employees are not exposed to second-hand smoke. Employees can also declare the entire business facility to be a non-smoking area, as many businesses now do.
But a related statute, Section 31-40s, protects the rights of smokers (perhaps reflecting that Connecticut is a tobacco-growing state). This statute prohibits employers from requiring that employees or prospective employees refrain from smoking, even outside the course of employment, as a condition of employment. It also prohibits discrimination against smokers. The only exceptions are for municipal hiring of police officers and fire fighters.
It may seem prudent for a business to find out if a job applicant is a smoker, in the hope of having a more healthy workforce. However, a hiring decision based on status as a smoker is prohibited by state law, so the question would not be proper.
This blog/web site presents general information only. The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice, and you should not consider or rely on it as such. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation. This website is not an offer to represent you. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information at this website. Neither our presentation of such information nor your receipt of it creates nor will create an attorney-client relationship with any reader of this blog. Any links from another site to the blog are beyond the control of Pullman & Comley, LLC and do not convey their approval, support or any relationship to any site or organization. Any description of a result obtained for a client in the past is not intended to be, and is not, a guarantee or promise the firm can or will achieve a similar outcome.
About Our Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Law Blog
Alerts, commentary, and insights from the attorneys of Pullman & Comley’s Labor, Employment Law and Employee Benefits practice on such workplace topics as labor and employment law, counseling and training, litigation, union issues, as well as employee benefits and ERISA matters.