FL Memo Ltd © 2007

Employment  Memo 2007 Newsletter Issue 2

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Smoking ban policy and sanctions

It is advisable that employers should introduce a workplace smoking policy (if they have not already done so) which sets out the smoking ban, whether smoking and taking smoking breaks is possible and allowed in unenclosed areas or compliant structures, and the sanctions employees will face if they breach the ban.  Employers should set out clearly in their smoking ban policy that smoking in prohibited areas could lead to disciplinary action.  Care must be taken in the appropriate sanctions for breaches of a smoking ban.  While repetitive breaches may lead to a reasonable sanction of dismissal for gross misconduct, it is unlikely to be reasonable for one instance of illegal smoking.   The appropriate response will depend on all the circumstances.

Supporting employees to stop smoking

Finally, as a matter of best practice, employer have much to gain from encouraging smokers to break their addiction, for example by agreeing to subsidise nicotine patches or fund activities designed to help smokers to quit. A report in April 2007 from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence has estimated that a business with 20 workers, of whom typically 5 would smoke, could spend £66 helping staff to quit, and still make an overall saving of £350 from increased productivity (the text of their report, with handy cost calculators for businesses of different sizes is available here: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=424885).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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