Can I prohibit meat in office premises?

Question

I own a company in New Jersey US. Can I employ only vegetarian employees? Can I force my employees not to carry any meat inside company premises?

Answer 1

Ah.... laws against discrimination are retarded. We all discriminate, every day. But now some moral busybodies in Washington want to tell us when we may exercise that discrimination, and when we may not. Next thing you know, they'll be telling me that I may not discriminate against stale bread, and I will have the coercive forces of government force me to buy it instead of fresh bread.

Anyway.... you might wish to simply drop an email to the office of an attorney in your State the specializes in discrimination suits. I would expect you would get an email back, and it shouldn't cost you anything. Send it to five such attorneys, and you'll almost assuredly get a response back.

My own limited studying of the law (I've worked as a paralegal/legal assistant, and I've got more than 45 legal studies credits under my belt) tells me that you should be fine. "Meat eaters" are not a protected class of people, and so their feelings/conveniences/etc. do not matter as much to the law as the feelings/conveniences/etc. of black people, gay people, handicapped people, or Buddhists. But send out the emails anyways, just to be safe.

Answer 2

Actually, vegans/vegetarians/meat-eaters are not protected clauses for employment. I am not sure of specific New Jersey laws, but typically only classes like race, gender, orientation, and sometimes religion and marital status are protected clauses. Asking in an interview if the person is a vegetarian or not is not illegal (asking about their family, or family plans for the future for instance, is). You could interview, ask everyone if they are a vegetarian (or ask them before you bring them in) and hire only vegetarians.

I imagine you'd have a really hard time though of finding qualified employees by restricting your search field to a category that is so narrow. Also you'd have to somehow specify in your advertisement or posting that these are the kinds of employees you are interested in in order to get that many interested in applying for your company. As for prohibiting meat, I am not sure. You would probably have to have all new employees sign a policy where they agree not to bring meat in and have certain things in place that would punish them if they did (i.e., one warning and fired). If they signed and agreed to this you should be able to then follow through and fire them if they brought meat in, or were caught with it at least.

This is not to say someone might not sue you (people sue for a lot of reasons) on the basis of maybe getting too involved in their personal life or harrassing them or something, but the legal basis for employment discrimination on meat-eating or not is limited.

Answer 3

So Many BAD Answers!

The word "discrimination" sounds so evil that we automatically assume all forms of discrimination are protected but that is not true. There are many forms of discrimination that are not covered including food and lifestyle(as long as it is not related to religion.)

In truth you can base your hiring practices on food preference as long as it doesn't discriminate against the protected rights of the individuals including discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, age, or individuals with disabilities. You must make the rule company wide to be able to apply it for hiring and firing purposes.

For example you can write a company wide policy that says that the company no longer considers the eating of meat to be acceptable and from this moment on the company will not hire meat eating people. You must also give a timeline for current employees to stop eating meat--usually 6 months or 1 year--or they will lose their job. You cannot extend the ban to include people who live with meat eaters tho.

Companies have successfully done this with smoking and smokers but have not (so far) been able to include employed spouses of smokers.

While someone may be able to claim that eating meat is a part of their religion, that claim would be very hard to prove in court.

Other companies that practice vegetarian hiring practices include: PETA, Edward & Sons, and Bay Area Vegetarian Alliance.

Consult with a lawyer before making your final decision.

Answer 4

You can, although you will be facing discrimination charges. You can also force employees to not carry meat on the premises, but you will face two issues.
1) A decrease in company morale because you are trying to impose your beliefs on others that do not share them
2) A possible suit. Read about Weyco, out of Lansing MI, telling their employees that if they smoke they will be fired. Though, I think the Supreme Court is still looking it to the legality of this.

Answer 5

I am in New Jersey and there was a company in this situation. Kind of, they only employed people of the same religion and set their religious standards to what is in the eating area. It was illegal based on discrimination and they got in trouble by the New Jersey Department of Labor.

Answer 6

You cannot employ only vegetarians, that's discrimination. However, you can prohibit meat if you find a legitimate reason to--not because it interferes with your beliefs.

If the meat tends to spoil easily or attracts rodents, then you'll have a good basis to prohibit it.

Answer 7

I have never heard of a "NO MEAT" policy.
I guess it is possible, but you might create a hostile work environment by doing so and therefore be sued for such.

Oh, and on the hiring of only vegetarians...I think that would be this little thing called discrimination, but you could try it and see if you get sued.

Answer 8

Why would you want to impose your views on them? This is America, I thought people were allowed to have differing views and freedom. How does that help or hinder your business? Why would you limit your business to only vegans, and would it be true vegans? No fish, no butter, etc. How would you enforce it, inspect their lunch bag. What is I feel your being cruel to asparagus, will you ban that, too?

You must have an awful lot of free time, is your business that successful? I'd think your focus would be about the business and hiring the best people, not about what they choose to eat.
BTW, I don't eat mamals, but i do eat fish and chicken. Would I qualify to work there?

Answer 9

That's discrimination. Just because you're a vegetarian, and I completely respect you for that, doesn't mean you can force your beliefs on others!

And asking if they're a vegetarian during an interview breaks some ethical codes I'm sure!!

Answer 10

Your safest move will be to prohibit all food and drink in the work area and to close down the cafeteria or break room. You will need some kind of safety or hygiene reason for this move, however.