NY No Smoking

scottorr

On July 24, 2003, New York will become a smoke free work place state. I am trying to find the specific requirements so that I will be in compliance. I even went to the New York state DOL website and they haven't updated their requirement list since 2/15/2001. Does anyone know or do they know of a resource I could use?

Tony Kessler

scottorr,
If you subscribe to New York Employment Law Letter, the lengthy lead article in the May 2003 issue was on this very topic. The headline was, "Be careful where you decide to 'light up.'" It was written by Melissa Katz with the law firm Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., which writes and edits the New York newsletter. If you can't find your hard copy, you can go to the home page on this website and log in to the newsletter archives. A search of the archives for "smoking" in the state of New York will pull up the article online. Hope this helps. tk

Tony Kessler, director of editorial
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
(615) 661-0249 ext. 8068

scottorr

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-19-03 AT 12:24PM (CST)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-19-03 AT 12:23 PM (CST)[/font]

Thanks for your help. I read the article. It was useful for basic information. However, I was at a seminar on legal updates and an attorney told us that the law went so far as to not allow smoking in areas outside, if there was a roof, he felt that that included enterance ways to the buildings. I haven't been able to find any information that outlined the exact changes or an interpretation of the exact changes. Everything I have read only gives bits and pieces not the whole picture. I can not even find a copy of the law itself.

ray a

Yep, I heard a similar "rumor". It went so far as employees could not smoke under an umbrella because that was defined as a "roof".

Parabeagle

You're not kidding, are you? Wow, and I thought Oregon's no smoking laws were restrictive!

scottorr

From what I have heard, this new no smoking law is the second stictest in the country. I heard that Delaware is the only state that is stricter.

Parabeagle

Hmmmm... I've always wondered if anyone realy lives in Delaware -- I always thought it was just a huge repository for records belonging to companies in other states that incorporated there. x;-)

ray a

I live in NY, our corporate headquarters is in Maryland. I have to drive the length of Deleware to reach headquarters and I think you may be right. BTW, our company is registered in Deleware. But, our President/CEO lives there, so it must be OK.

ray a

No, I wasn't kidding, unfortunately. I don't know if it is true or not, but you never know. One of our employees is on the town council where he lives and it came up in a council meeting. He was asking me thinking I would know the answer. Could just be urban legend, but since NY hasn't published the law yet, we can't verify it. I suspect this will be a law very loosely or selectively enforced much like cell phone use while driving.

angus

We have a family owned and run business, with no paid employees. According to your Law Letter dated May 2003 Vol. 10, NO. 5 some exemptions apply; one being
"owner-operated bars, which are bars in which all of the duties relating to the preparation, serving, cleaning, shelving, stocking, and maintenance of the food and drink are performed by the owners of the bar" All of this applies to our business, but the County Health Department said this is not so and should never been printed in your news letter. My question is; would our establishment the exempt from the new law that takes effect July 24, 2003? Please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks

Tony Kessler

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-17-03 AT 09:24AM (CST)[/font][p]Angus,
According to Michael Kalish, one of the lead editors for New York Employment Law Letter, the exemption that you cited is to the New York City statute (which went into effect at the end of March) -- not the new state law that goes into effect later this month. Hope this clears up the confusion. Here is Michael's contact info. tk

Michael A. Kalish
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
250 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10177-1211
(212)351-3738 (phone)
(212)661-0989 (fax)
[email]mkalish@ebglaw.com[/email]

ray a

I have been concerned about this, too. The newsletter article was informative, but I wonder about the interpretations that may come up. One employee suggested to me that our designated smoking shelter out back will now be illegal. I have not been able to access direct information concerning the law to read the actual verbiage.

From the newsletter article, it appears we are in compliance already with the exception of no smoking in the company van - used by maintenance.

Tony Kessler

The New York state smoking restrictions law that goes into effect July 24 (along with the law in effect until then) can be found by using the HR Answer Engine available through HRhero.com. But you must follow the directions (below) word for word. If you try to use shortcuts that you may be accustomed to using, you may not find the law because it's so new. The old one is still in effect. If you click on the shortcut to "laws and regulations," for example, you'll still see the old/current law. By the way, when you get to the end of the directions, I'll tell you how I know all of this. Here goes:

-- On the upper-right corner of the home page, log in with your password.
-- Then click on the line that says "Search for articles, statutes, regs, policies."
-- In the top line of the search form, type "smoking restrictions."
-- About midway down the page, click the "Laws and Regulations" box.
-- If you're a New York newsletter subscriber, the search will automatically search for New York laws. If you're checking this law from another state, select "New York" from the list located immediately below the "Laws and Regulations" box that you just checked.
-- Now you're ready to scroll down a little further and click the "Display Results" bar. You'll see both the current and the July 24 versions of the law listed.
-- Click on the one that says "Effective July 24, 2003" to call up the text of the law.

If you have any questions about locating the law, please e-mail Tammy Binford, our resident expert on state laws and regulations -- she's been working to update them on the website for all 50 states during the past year -- at [email]tbinford@mleesmith.com[/email]. She's the one who called my attention to the fact that we already had this new law in our system. Thanks, Tammy! Hope this helps. tk

Tony Kessler, director of editorial
M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC
(615) 661-0249 ext. 8068

scottorr

I found it! Thank you!

CGruyters

Does anyone have a policy that takes into account the new law that they would be willing to share?

Whatever

I should point out that we are manufacturing company and prior to the new regulations we were (and still are) subject to the fire laws. Therefore, smoking had previously been limited to smoking rooms and private offices and anyone caught smoking anywhere else in the building was subject to immediate termination. Our current policy states that anyone caught smoking anywhere in the building is subject to immediate termination. Employees are allowed to leave the building for any reason (including smoking) only during scheduled breaks and lunch time. When the NYC non-smoking laws went into effect, our local hospital launched a non-smoking program that the company has supported. A few of the smokers have quit.

scottorr

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-24-03 AT 09:21AM (CST)[/font][p]The HR Hero website has a very good tobacco use policy. It is the one I used as the basis for our policy. I customized the policy and had two attorneys review it but all of the basic are there. Let me know if I can be of more assistance.

ray a

The HR Hero website does have good information. As a manufacturing facility, we have banned smoking in the building for several years, so the only change this law requires us to make is to ban smoking in company vehicles.