Tobacco Documents Online

a THE INDIANAPOLIS NEWS Smoking off job I still issue New state law, protects rights of the employee By ABE AAMIDOR Th• Indianapolis N.w: S MOKING OFF the)ob continues to be a bone of contention between employers and employees, despite a new Indiana law that prohibits job discrimination against those who use tobacco. On June 28 Sean Bone sued his former employer, Ford Meter Box Co. of Wabash, alleging Invasion of prlvacy, emotional distress and wrongful termination. Bone was fired In 1989 after a drug test revealed he had used a tobacco product off the Job, violating company policy. _ A Ford Meter Box spokesman previously said the policy against smokers was needed to help control health Insurance costs. ' 9one's mother, Janice, who also • worked for the company, was fired for allegedly smoking off the lob and had sued the company a nst smoK , 1th stmlla legislation pending in seven states. The first smokers' rights law was passed in 1989. "t've never seen anything move this fast," said Lewis Maltby, director of the American Civil Liberties Union office on workplace rights. "There are a lot of reasons, but I suppose the principal reason Is that there's a great deal of unanimity on this. There's a poll that shows that 80 or 90 percent of the public supports the right of people to do Whatever they want to in the privacy of their own home," including smoking. But anti-smoking advocates are fuming over this recent trend. "They use the 'slippery slope' argument," said John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health and professor of law at George Washington University. ' "My God, if they can do this to smokers today they can do this to, people who eat Haagen-Dazs ice cream or whatever.' " A lot of money is going up in smoke, all in the name of smokers' rights, says Banzhaf. N ~ His office estlmates the direct " health and occupational-related costs of smoking top $100 billion ~ every year. That's about five times the $20 billion in federal, state and local taxes that cigarette sales generate. But Maltby says what's at t I stake is not smokers' rights, but the right of privacy. "There are many things you can do in the home that are dangerous," he noted. "lf an employer can save a few bucks on health Insurance by banning smokers, why couldn't they ban C previously, That case ls pending• ~ "I think the smokers' rights law would not apply to Sean Bone's case because it was passed after Sean was fired," : said his attorney, Charles W. McNagny, "but it does indlcate G people who ride motorcycles or who tan themselves?" that public policy really does not ~ support this sort of conduct against an employee." The new law, which went Into ~ effect July 1, may have come t6o „ late for Bone. Yet 16 states now ir have laws barring discrimination 1 ' , i Cl'lOH 5,lF-il- -3O _1f)O _Z~9 QJ:"'J.~ ~'1'iV3Zi NV3W z anv .[ r TIILBC 010940