A smoker in the workplace and what should I do?

Question

I just started this new job, more money, close to my home, just all around better, but I have one small problem. My boss's wife comes in and smokes in the building upstairs and it filters through the entire building a/c system almost daily. It smells so awful, and I'm sneezing, coughing, my face is breaking out, and I know I can't complain cause I've heard she was a witch. I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but I wonder if there is some kind of way I can get her to go outside or something. I thought about getting one of those air purifiers, but I noticed that's not good for smoke. I don't want to quit either, what do you suggest I do?

replies to answers...I don't smoke. I live in Louisiana and I think it's ok to smoke in public here. I'm not crying!

Ok since I'm getting mixed reviews here, what are ways I can have clean smelling air around me, since I have to be there 8 hours a day? I don't care who smokes, just give me freedom

JCN It's illegal if it's a restaurant not a pharmacy, and she is in a separate room

wow such a response, thanks. I'm going to look into the local laws, but if not I'm going to get some kind of air cleaner or something, I do like my job

Answer 1

That's a tough one. Maybe you can bring in a doctors note and explain to your boss that you have been sick since you started there because of the smoke and ask if it would be possible to have his wife smoke somewhere else. If you ask nicely and exlplain that you have a medical condition, it shouldn't be an issue. What state do you live in and what kind of job do you do? Most states have laws against this now. Is there a window that you could keep opened?


UPDATE- Louisiana has stiff anti-smoking laws- it is illegal for her to be smoking in there. I would file an annoymous complaint.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - George's restaurants will keep dishing up their fried shrimp po-boys, hefty plates of battered onion rings and the thick, juicy hamburgers that are an institution around Louisiana's capital city.

The dollar bills, signed by many a restaurant customer over the years, still will be tacked on the ceiling at the original George's location under the interstate overpass.

The beer still will be cold.

But starting Monday, the ashtrays inside George's will be packed away - and smokers who have frequented the three restaurant locations around the city for years will be forced outside to take a drag, part of a new statewide smoking ban.

"I've had a lot of complaints from a lot of people. I tell 'em, 'It's not my idea. What do you want me to do?" said R.J. "Smokie" Bourgeois, the owner of George's restaurants and a George's deli in downtown Baton Rouge.

Louisiana's restaurants, public places, public buildings and most other places of employment become smoke-free with the start of the new year, one of more than a dozen new laws to take effect and the likely most noticeable change to average residents.

Lawmakers approved most of the changes - either new laws or adjustments to old ones - in the legislative session that ended in June. Many will barely register with most residents, dealing with legal distinctions that matter to lawyers and judges or other specific groups.

But the smoking ban isn't likely to go unnoticed.

The "Louisiana Smokefree Air Act," sponsored by Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Livonia, prohibits smoking in most business around Louisiana, leaving people to do as they'd like in their homes and cars (unless they're using their homes as day care facilities).

However, there are a few other major exceptions where smoking still is allowed: bars, casinos, horse racing tracks, off-track betting facilities, bingo halls, hotel rooms, tobacco stores, Mardi Gras ball facilities and assisted living and nursing home facilities where people have requested to be in smoking rooms. Also, customers can smoke on outdoor patios at restaurants, and prisoners can smoke in Louisiana's jails until 2009.

At George's - which doles out bumper stickers bearing the motto, "Business is great. People are terrific. Life is wonderful" - Bourgeois still plans to smoke, just away from the customers and where other people can't see him.

"I'm going to pack up all the ashtrays, except for mine," he said.

The smoking ban legislation failed for several years until it passed in the 2006 regular session. Supporters said it was needed to clean up the air that nonsmokers breathe, while smokers said it was an infringement on their rights and restaurants said it would send more business to bars that serve food and where patrons can smoke.

"They just don't want to lose any business under a loophole in the law," said Tom Weatherly, with the Louisiana Restaurant Association.

Tommy Lotz, with the Louisiana chapter of the American Lung Association, said Louisiana's new law doesn't go far enough. He would like to see it include bars and casinos.

Louisiana is one of 22 states with some sort of smoking ban.

"This is a huge victory to help clean the air that we breathe," said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, the state health officer for the Department of Health and Hospitals.

Guidry said the toxins from second hand smoke increase the risk of lung cancer and heart disease in adults and increase asthma rates in children. People who inhale a large amount of second hand smoke have a 25 percent to 30 percent increase in heart disease, he said.

"From a public health perspective, we look at tobacco as one of the number one killers in this country. It is definitely an important piece of public health prevention to reduce tobacco exposure," Guidry said.

The new law relies on local law enforcement to levy the fines. For people who light up in prohibited areas, the first penalty is $25, the second is $50 and each additional fine is $100. For employers, including restaurant owners, who permit smoking in areas where it is banned, their first fine is $100, the second is $250 and subsequent fines are $500. Half the money will go to tobacco control efforts in the state public health office.

The crux of enforcement, however, seems to rest with complaints from customers or employees at businesses who don't want to inhale second hand smoke and call their local police stations or sheriffs' offices to register their objections.

"As I understand it, they're using the age-old methods that Hitler and Stalin used," Bourgeois said, referencing the infamous dictators. "They rely on you to rat out your neighbors."

Guidry said other states with smoking bans have used peer pressure from nonsmokers to help with enforcement, and Lotz said he expects restaurants to report each other if neighboring businesses are not complying.

"Nonsmokers and people who don't want to be exposed ought to be adamant about this," Guidry said.

The state restaurant association won't challenge the new law in court, Weatherly said, adding the "trends of society were running against us" after years of successfully battling similar smoking bans in the Louisiana Legislature.

But restaurants still worry they may lose business.

Businesses with restaurant licenses must be smoke free - and post a sign notifying customers of that - but businesses with bar licenses can have half their sales from food and still allow smoking, Weatherly said.

"It's the first economic incentive out there for an establishment to be classified as a bar," he said, though he acknowledged several restaurant owners who sought information on switching to a bar license reconsidered when they realized they couldn't have customers under the age of 18 because of Louisiana law.

The restaurant association sent out fact sheets about the smoking ban and samples of no-smoking signs to inform its members about the new law, Weatherly said.

He said the biggest confusion may involve small employers, like law offices, that don't understand they also must go smoke-free.

"People just don't really realize that this law applies to them, too," Weatherly said.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A look at other smoke-free states:

Smoking bans have been approved in 22 states, with Louisiana's beginning Monday.

Bans on smoking in workplaces, restaurants, bars and casinos exist in:

California
Delaware
New York
Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bans on smoking in workplaces and restaurants, with some exemptions, were enacted in:

Louisiana
Montana
Utah
New Jersey
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Hawaii
Arkansas
North Dakota
South Dakota
Maryland

Answer 2

I don't think you could make that a question on any application or in an interview. But you could make policies that make it very difficult for people who smoke to work there. Now I would say if someone were to light up in an interview that that is very unprofessional and even rude. And I would say since people can discriminate on the appearance (manner of dress and how they present themselves in the interview) If the reek of cigarette smoke then go a head and don't hire them based on that. Also remember that hiring is a discriminating business. You must discriminate on some grounds. Just make sure you can back it up by other than he's a smoker.

Answer 3

Since you can't do anything about her smoking in the building here's a few things you can try just to make it bearable. Get a small desktop fan, a scented candle, a couple of plants and take some allergy medication. Benadryl works well but it can make some people drowsy. Also try Visine AC eyedrops if your eyes get irritated. For your face, if you don't wear makeup, try a misting bottle with purified water and spray your face every so often or get some facial wipes.

I'm a smoker and I know that the smell just permeates everything.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Answer 4

If the smoker is violating a state law just make an anonymous complaint to the appropriate state agency. I did that one time. Although I had left the job I heard through the grapevine that it worked because there was no longer smoking in that building.

Answer 5

ok, first i would suggest that you talk to your boss about it right in the middle of one of your attacks - kind of say -" is someone smoking in here? achoo!!!"

If that doesn't work, then get some of your friends (friends that the boss doesn't know are your friends) to come in the pharmacy and shop around and say kind of loudly - " It stinks like someone has been smoking in here - what kind of pharmacy is this?" And things like that

Other than that, I"m out of ideas!

Answer 6

It's the bosses wife, if you complain , you'll be unemployed. You could check with the local laws. Here in Colorado all the buildings are smoke free by law. I don't know what your state is like.I suppose you could call the health dept anonymously

Answer 7

Like one of the other people mentioned, what about the smoking laws where you are?

You do have the right to speak to someone about it.

I am a non-smoker but I believe that smokers have rights too. However, I also have very bad asthma and it is difficult for me to be in a smoky environment. When it comes to the workplace, the health of all employees has to be considered first.

Answer 8

Unless you live in a state that prohibits smoking at the workplace, there is nothing you can do legally. There are desktop air purifiers that work on cigarrette smoke. Since you are so new at the job, I wouldn't say anything. (that includes other employees, you never know who's a snitch) On the other hand, if several of the other employees start a petition, or a group complaint, by all means, join in.

Answer 9

How many employees? Anyone else bothered? Maybe someone else could approach the boss. Don't say anything to her, hubby will just be forced to defend her. You are new and I wouldn't advise saying anything to boss. But maybe you could rally the troops in a quiet manner-like its their idea not yours. Miserable situation. You may be forced to quit. Good Luck.

Answer 10

If it is not against the rules of your company, you deal with it. If she is smoking in the building and it is filtering through the AC system, then someone needs to check the system, this usually only happens when people smoke near the intake, which is usually outside.

Answer 11

Well you really dont have much you can do. if you work for a major comp then it is probly against the law for them. but if your boss it the head of you comp then I guess you need to find another job