Loading...
The use of tobacco for smoking purposes is found to be increasingly dangerous and life-threatening, not only to the person smoking, but also to the nonsmoking person who is required to breathe air contaminated by environmental tobacco smoke. The most pervasive intrusion of the nonsmokers’ right to a healthy, unpolluted air space is the uncontrolled smoking in the workplace. The Boston City Council’s intent, by the passage of this Section, is to protect the health and welfare of the nonsmoker by regulating smoking and the discomforting effect it creates in the confined environment of the workplace.
(CBC 1985 16-35.1; Ord. 1993 c. 3)
(A) Because the smoking of burning tobacco or any other weed or plant is extremely dangerous to health and is a cause of material annoyance and discomfort to those employees who are exposed to it and have, of economic necessity, to work in the confines of a workplace, the Boston City Council hereby declares that the purposes of this act are:
(1) To protect the public health and welfare by regulating smoking in the workplace; and
(2) To minimize the toxic effects of smoking in the workplace by requiring an employer to adopt a policy that reasonably accommodates insofar as possible, the preferences of nonsmokers and smokers.
(B) If an employer allows employees to smoke in the workplace, the Section requires that:
(1) The employer make reasonable accommodations for the preferences of both nonsmoking and smoking employees;
(2) The employer must give particular preference to employees who as a result of either a cardiovascular illness, pulmonary illness or any other physical condition affecting the eyes, nose and throat, are sensitive to the discomforts of tobacco smoke;
(3) The employer use without incurring additional expense to the extent possible existing architectural design and ventilation systems to separate designated smoking areas from designated nonsmoking areas;
(4) All nonsmoking areas to be designated and conspicuously marked with signs; and
(5) The employer be prohibited from terminating without due cause or discriminating against any employee because the employee exercised his or her right under this act.
(CBC 1985 16-35.3; Ord. 1993 c. 3)
Loading...