Legal help- smoking, private property, own car

[crz4mm2]

Our company recently went NON SMOKING on the entire campus. THey even went so far as to tell employees that they can not smoke in their own cars while on break or lunch.
I am wondering just how legal it is for them to tell us what we can do in our own cars when OFF THE CLOCK?
I know it is private property, but, if you can tell me what I can do in my car, then aren't you taking responsibilty for my car?

(I don't smoke by the way)

 

[MzDiz]

I wondered about this as well. I'm not a smoker either, but I always thought that what you did in your car was your business. I take some night classes at the local high school and they made it abundantly clear that even the night time college students couldn't smoke in their cars in the parking lot or they would be fined. I wondered about that fine and its legality. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will clear this up.

 

[caitycaity]

it probably depends on local laws. there ia a town near me that a few years ago was considering banning people from smoking on their own private property (outside their house, in their yard). it didn't pass, but it would have been legal for the government to do that if it had passed.

 

[barkley]

if it's on their property they can ban it. if you are off the clock (unpaid time off vs. a break which is usualy paid time off) you can leave the property.

my former employer went so far as to ban employees from leaving the property (walking, driving, other) on paid breaks because they did not want liability for an injury or an accident that may occur (got hit with a huge lawsuit where an employee drove to a bank and got into a car accident, the accident occured while he was on the payroll so the employer's workman's comp. had to pay out for years-and the employer had to hold the job open for a eventual return-had another employee trip while taking a walk, same deal).

we could'nt smoke within so many yards of an entrance to the building (but the city down the road from us passed laws that ban smoking on any public owned, funded property as well as any private owned that does bsns. with/is accessable to the public).

p.s.-i am a smoker.

 

[disneysteve]

It may be your car but it is parked on THEIR property so you need to follow THEIR rules. I don't see a problem with this.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I wondered about this as well. I'm not a smoker either, but I always thought that what you did in your car was your business. I take some night classes at the local high school and they made it abundantly clear that even the night time college students couldn't smoke in their cars in the parking lot or they would be fined. I wondered about that fine and its legality. Hopefully someone more knowledgable will clear this up.

Would that have something to do with the drug-free school zone? I'm not sure if tobacco would apply. I know when we have events at the school, there is no smoking on the school grounds, but I've never heard if it applied in people vehicle's

Jen

 

[stinkerbelle]

back when I was in HS...they tried to inforce the same thing (but we were like "our cars, our property") but, we didn't fight it and would go to the sidewalk (not school property)

I've since quit smoking and would LOVE for my company to at least set up a "smoking area" where people CAN go to smoke...so they don't huddle in the stairwells of the parking garages ( I have to walk through it now - being an ex smoker, now I realize how bad I used to stink! No offense to current smokers!)

I'd lean toward - you may be in YOUR property (car) but your property is sitting on THEIR property (parking lot/garage)...so they would overrule. I think there would be better ways for the company to handle it...rather then "taking away" something...GIVE something (a covered area outside where smokers can go)...and enforce that.

JMO

 

[crz4mm2]

Hummmm. So, if they are OFF The clock, then they could leave the property. But ON the clock even in their own cars, since it is on private property they would still be under the company's rules of no smoking?
Interesting.
Thanks.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our company instituted the same policy about a year before I started working here. It was recommended we do this by our insurance company (liabilty insurance) and apparently led to a decrease in rates with that carrier.

And, if you are still on their private property, you must still abide by their rules, no matter what you might be sitting on/in at the time.

Denae

 

[Tumbleweed]

I also don't smoke. I do feel, however, that government is way too much
in our lives. Whatever happened to the "free country" we live in?

I know the laws are supposed to protect the majority. I don't understand
why someone can't open a bar (I don't drink either) for smokers.

I am a small business owner and I will tell you that I feel more than ever
that government is WAY too involved in our lives.

Sorry, I got off the subject a little.

 

[Free4Life11]

Students on campus are not allowed to drink or have alcohol in their cars while on school property, including parking lots. Kids were drinking in their cars instead of the dorms to avoid getting caught.

 

[mickeyboat]

I also don't smoke. I do feel, however, that government is way too much
in our lives. Whatever happened to the "free country" we live in?

I know the laws are supposed to protect the majority. I don't understand
why someone can't open a bar (I don't drink either) for smokers.

I am a small business owner and I will tell you that I feel more than ever
that government is WAY too involved in our lives.

Sorry, I got off the subject a little.

This really isn't a case of the government being involved in our lives, it is a private property owner making their own rules on their own property.

Denae

 

[crz4mm2]

I agree a company can do whatever it wants to do so if it says no smoking on its private property then it can say that. BUT I just think that a person should be able to smoke in their own car.
And smoking is LEGAL. Drinking in public (outside in a car) is not.

 

[barkley]

back when I was in HS...they tried to inforce the same thing (but we were like "our cars, our property") but, we didn't fight it and would go to the sidewalk (not school property)

I've since quit smoking and would LOVE for my company to at least set up a "smoking area" where people CAN go to smoke...so they don't huddle in the stairwells of the parking garages ( I have to walk through it now - being an ex smoker, now I realize how bad I used to stink! No offense to current smokers!)

I'd lean toward - you may be in YOUR property (car) but your property is sitting on THEIR property (parking lot/garage)...so they would overrule. I think there would be better ways for the company to handle it...rather then "taking away" something...GIVE something (a covered area outside where smokers can go)...and enforce that.

JMO

the high school i attended in the late 70's had the first (and may have been only) designated student smoking section on campus in the u.s..
it was great-the bathrooms were'nt smokey (and you were'nt afraid to use them for fear of "getting busted" for someone else smoking), the smokers made it back to class on time, if you did'nt like the smell of smoke you could just steer clear of that area.

they were forced to shut it down a couple of years later when some parent group argued that it "passively encouraged tobacco use", so the kids went back to using the bathrooms, being late to class, litering the sidewalks in front of the neighboring houses...

 

[disneysteve]

I just think that a person should be able to smoke in their own car.

What if that person smoking in their car decides to roll down the window to air out the car?

 

[bigmerle1966]

Would that have something to do with the drug-free school zone? I'm not sure if tobacco would apply. I know when we have events at the school, there is no smoking on the school grounds, but I've never heard if it applied in people vehicle's

Jen

I know here in the state of MD it does apply to cars as well on school property. I was told by a school secretary that she would leave the school during her break and drive a few miles away to a little strip mall so that she could smoke.

 

[KimR]

the high school i attended in the late 70's had the first (and may have been only) designated student smoking section on campus in the u.s..
...

Where did you go to high school because ours had one too...this was 1976 when the school opened.

 

[BuckNaked]

What if that person smoking in their car decides to roll down the window to air out the car?

So what if they do? Do you seriously believe that cigarette smoke coming from a car that immediately dissipates into the air is going to cause real harm to someone?

Don't get me wrong, I agree that the property owners have the right to make any kind of rule about smoking that they want to, but the example you gave above of why they might be doing it is ridiculous.

 

[crz4mm2]

What if that person smoking in their car decides to roll down the window to air out the car?

I guess it wouldn't matter to me cause the cars are quite a bit away from the building.
My biggest complaint (and Again, I do NOT SMOKE and I don't particularly LIKE smoke, would rather not be around it, try to avoid it at all costs, don't like to sit next to smokers, don't want to be in the same room etc with them ) is the PATIENTS that come to this HEALTH clinic are still smoking. They stand in FRONT of the clinic and smoke at the front door. They smoke in the lot, stand outside and smoke, smoke in their cars etc. There is nothing the clinic can do about that, really, Is there? Can they have people arrested? I am quite sure they would NOT have a patient arrested for smoking on their property (after all, it is the patient who pays the bill). But the employees are expected to abide by the rules when the visitors are not. That is my biggest complaint.

 

[barkley]

just remembered-within the past year one of the tv news shows had a segment on a case that had gone to the state level supreme court (can't remember which state) wherein a private employer had consulted with his health insurance provider and found that he could get a huge discount if his entire workforce was non smoking. the guy tells the employees that in one year only non smokers can work for him. he offers to pay for smoking cessation class, patches, gum...but at the one year deadline anyone who smoked would be fired (and they would include tobacco testing along with unannounced employee drug screens).

a group of employees file suit because they believe the employer cannot impose restrictions on their non illegal habits during off work hours.

the employees lost every suit, every appeal. the court upheld that it was a privatly held company and the employer could determine whatever qualifications he deemed appropriate for the job (it was also an "at will" state so he could terminate for no reason either).