Must employers provide smoking areas for staff?
Posted in : Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 25 September 2017
Seamus McGranaghan
O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors
Q. Is there any onus on employers to provide smoking areas?
Well, as far as I’m aware, there isn’t any legal obligation to provide a smoking area. Interestingly, what you’ll find in a lot of company handbooks is that there would be a smoking area provided or it will simply say you’re not allowed to smoke on or near the premises. Employers could be very uptight of people wearing uniforms and standing outside the front of businesses smoking.
It can be a practical step for an employer to provide somewhere for the employees to smoke and sometimes that could be an enclosed area or somewhere where it is closed off, but certainly I’m not aware of there being a legal obligation to provide that, but just on a practical basis it might be best for an employer to do that.
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Seamus McGranaghan
O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors
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