Workplace bans smoking and vaping on property

[Ridilen]

In Toronto we now have a ban on smoking on all city property, parks, dog parks (go figure) and such. They have also included vaping in this ban. My company has recently changed the smoking locations and sent emails regarding their policy. A few moments after this email came out they sent a follow up including a statement that the 'City of Toronto advises all companies to follow their regulations on vaping'. I don't blow clouds at work (no one needs that attention), but at least I know I can't be fired for vaping if they find me. We simply include a statement from the city, our policy does not say we adhere/enforce it. We will see if I can get away with vaping at the hockey game next month.

 

[InfinityzeN]

I'm in the military and curently deployed to Afghan. I was also the only smoker in my building.

So my first shipment of vaping gear came in (haven't touched a cig since) and I would walk outside to vape. That afternoon some "Exciting" things happen and we were in lockdown. My boss told me to just vape at my desk.

First couple of days I would walk into the back room (storage space) of my office but quickly settled into doing it at my desk. I even show my boss the new stuff when it comes in (everyone thought the Atlantis was cool, since I was blowing massive clouds) and let the girl who was really smoke sensative pick out my 'flavor of the day'.

Overall everyone is happy or at least neutral that I switched to vaping. The lack of burned tobacco smell is what really does it.

 

[Nytebreed]

Put a dead mouse in the bottom drawer of her desk. In a few days she'll have something new to complain about.

A live skunk is better.

 

[Woofer]

In Toronto we now have a ban on smoking on all city property, parks, dog parks (go figure) and such. They have also included vaping in this ban. My company has recently changed the smoking locations and sent emails regarding their policy. A few moments after this email came out they sent a follow up including a statement that the 'City of Toronto advises all companies to follow their regulations on vaping'. I don't blow clouds at work (no one needs that attention), but at least I know I can't be fired for vaping if they find me. We simply include a statement from the city, our policy does not say we adhere/enforce it. We will see if I can get away with vaping at the hockey game next month.

Really so you can't even smoke on the streets of TO? Good grief it was a hell hole already, you couldn't pay me enough to life and work there!
Anyway it is a comfort to know that TO's finest will be cracking down on the crime wave that is vaping! Or will they?
I imagine with Rob Ford around you can still smoke crack in the parks?
Doubtful I will ever visit TO again but if I do I'll be a one man vapin' crime wave.
Why "dog parks (go figure)" ?

 

[fretplayer20]

I completely agree with those who have said to stealth vape in the bathroom. The key is to find a juice that does not put off a strong odor ... menthol is a good one I use at work. Every time I walk by the bathroom, I step into a stall, sneak a quick 8-10 puffs, hold them for a few seconds and exit stage right. No one is ever the wiser. I'm happy, the company is happy, etc etc. They just recently banished us to a concrete pad a good walk from site. Up until a few months ago, I was using my .35 tobh at my desk. lol.

Anyway, it's an easy solution that can give you that same fix as before, you just have to be a little underhanded about it. No problemo.

 

[sofarsogood]

I work in a shop that's probably 50,000 square feet, high ceiling. Typically there are 50 people on the floor and usually a few customers. Half a dozen of us are vaping. There is no policy or rule. It's a new thing. The activity is being tolerated so far. We do our best to be discrete. Smoking is restricted to outside the building. Vaping is hard to spot and seems to be ignored by everyone. The vapors aren't sneaking out back for a smoke between breaks which removes a low grade annoyance with management. Not smoking has made me a better employee which I think is being noticed and management is connecting the dots on that.

What's the juice forumula that produces the most minimal visible vapor? I want to keep some of that handy for when it's needed.

What will happen when an employee brings in a note from his doctor saying he should be allowed to vape to treat his tobacco addiction? It was a huge help to me being able to vape at will at work during the first several weeks of quitting cigs.

 

[built4feel]

In my workplace, I'd estimate that 40% of the employees are nicotine users: 35% smokers, 3% chew, 2% vapers.....

My workplace has/used to have specific areas where you could get your fix (outside of course)....

I find it hard to believe that this new rule is going to do production any good, and this company is very, very keen on meeting quota no matter what.

Yea, I get the "just stealth vape".... But that really isn't something I wanna go through the hassle of doing.... Personally, at 6mg, I think I will have minimal cravings to go through the trouble of getting my fix in the bathroom stall... I would also be concerned that I would set off a smoke alarm.

I feel bad for the ~35% of the smokers at my building that will have horrible cravings/withdraw symptoms from analogs, and will not have the option to get their fix through vaping.... I doubt many will give up the habbit, and neither will I, but I'm not going to go through with hiding my vaping and being at risk/ breaking the rules / threatening my job.

Thanks for all the discussion. It is interesting to hear that I'm not alone. I've searched and dug up some older threads about this topic, but I decided to create a newer one to discuss it, for I (and the others) going through this oppression.

 

[James Wilson]

Well I wouldn't be working there long lol

 

[Alien Traveler]

On a bright side it will help you to overcome vape dependance. You'll vape because you want to vape, not because you need to vape. Dependance is a terrible thing, it makes people to behave oddly. While vaping I have learned to go without a draw for hours. Not ten hours yet, but six hours - without any problems. It makes life easier.

 

[Rossum]

Yep, I often go 6-8 hours without a vape.

When I'm sleeping.

 

[officer196]

I'm in the military and curently deployed to Afghan. I was also the only smoker in my building.

So my first shipment of vaping gear came in (haven't touched a cig since) and I would walk outside to vape. That afternoon some "Exciting" things happen and we were in lockdown. My boss told me to just vape at my desk.

First couple of days I would walk into the back room (storage space) of my office but quickly settled into doing it at my desk. I even show my boss the new stuff when it comes in (everyone thought the Atlantis was cool, since I was blowing massive clouds) and let the girl who was really smoke sensative pick out my 'flavor of the day'.

Overall everyone is happy or at least neutral that I switched to vaping. The lack of burned tobacco smell is what really does it.

That's awesome and thank you for your service. Stay safe over there.

 

[Strings]

Actually, in many places, employers/property owners aren't legally allowed to dictate what is in your personal vehicle, regardless of if it's on their property or not. Your vehicle is considered an extension of your home (and there's legal precedent on the subject).

Now... could your company fire you for vaping in your car on their property, and get away with it? Hell yeah: they just don't state the reason for your dismissal. That doesn't change the legal standing

 

[Spidey2011]

Actually, in many places, employers/property owners aren't legally allowed to dictate what is in your personal vehicle, regardless of if it's on their property or not. Your vehicle is considered an extension of your home (and there's legal precedent on the subject).

Now... could your company fire you for vaping in your car on their property, and get away with it? Hell yeah: they just don't state the reason for your dismissal. That doesn't change the legal standing

Which is why I'm glad I'm union. Lol. Mine said no vaping in the shop, so I'll go sit in the truck for a few minutes and vape. Lol

 

[Scottitude]

Actually, in many places, employers/property owners aren't legally allowed to dictate what is in your personal vehicle, regardless of if it's on their property or not. Your vehicle is considered an extension of your home (and there's legal precedent on the subject).

Now... could your company fire you for vaping in your car on their property, and get away with it? Hell yeah: they just don't state the reason for your dismissal. That doesn't change the legal standing

I'm not familiar with Wisconsin law or the precedent you mentioned but I would venture to bet that may be the case in some places, but in most places, if an employer has a no firearms on premises policy and learns (and can prove) you have weapons in your vehicle, said policy would trump the "extension of your home" angle. I also believe that more often than not, if an employer fires an employee for violating a no smoking or no vaping on premises policy, they'll state exactly why they terminated the "rogue" employee.

Michigan is a right to work state meaning that, with the exception of the archaic union concept, an employer can terminate anyone for any reason at any time. And unless it's clearly an egregious violation of one's civil rights, the courts will usually side with the business

A company in Northern Michigan made national headlines several years back when they mandated that its employees would be terminated if they smoked anywhere, even in the privacy of their own home. As ridiculous and Faustian as it is, the courts upheld the company's policy and people either found another job, quit smoking, or got fired.

For the most part, employers, like the government, can pretty much do anything they damn well please and make your life hell by dragging it through the courts long enough for you to lose interest & give up or go broke.

Sad, but true. God bless America, eh?

 

[towelie]

My work used to say the same. No smoking or vaping on property. Fortunately the "property" was fairly small, so small I could wave to ppl coming to work while technically being off property.

Loving the freedom minded folks in this thread but the whole "constitutionality" of this issue is pretty moot when you literally agreed to work there and abide by company statutes. I'm all for raging against the machine but often we are just raging at ourselves on these issues, and indeed we tend to on most constitutional issues that we actually agreed to bypass with a contract.

 

[Wow1420]

How common is this "no smoking or vaping on company property" becoming? I thought it was rare other than government or health-care industries, but this thread is making it seem more common.

The place I currently work has this policy too. I didn't know about this policy before I started work there, I never expected to be able to vape inside, but didn't think it would be extended to anywhere on their property. At first, when the weather was OK, I took a short walk at lunchtime and had a quick vape off-property. When it got colder, I decided to see if I could go 9 hours without a vape, as I was already used to 4 or 5 hour no-vape stretches. It was pretty easy to skip the lunch time vape. But what I noticed was my focus and concentration in the afternoon decreased without nic. So I started jumping in my car at lunchtime and taking a little vape-drive.

What I find ironic though, is that use of pharmacutical NRT over the counter products is allowed on company property, so I could use gum or lozenge there if i wanted to. But no smokeless tobacco products.

 

[Scottitude]

It's actually becoming quite common.

My employer allows patches and gum, however, everyone who tests positive for nicotine, regardless of the source, is classified as smoker/tobacco user and has to pay an additional $150 per month "tobacco surcharge" for insurance.

It's insanity. You can be morbidly obese, an alcoholic, a junkie, a base jumper, or engage in every high risk behavior known to mankind with no penalty, but if there's even trace amounts of nicotine in your system, you pay almost twice the insurance premium. And that's on top of about $8,000 out of pocket to meet the deductible before insurance pays for any portion of your healthcare.

Insanity, I tell you.

 

[Ray in KC]

I blew a big moster vap hit in an empty isle of a big grocery store awhile back.
It felt so wrong so I did it again to be sure and after the third time and still
feeling like I shouldn't be doing that I did it one more time and didn't do it again.

 

[3mg Meniere]

Patch. Gum. 100% PG no flavor in RR. Lunch vape off property. No argument.

 

[optsmk]

I recently got called back to a good-paying, decent job and was offered a long-term position, which I accepted.

The next day, I found out that they are banning smoking AND vaping on the entire premises, starting 2015.

I'm planning on just toughing it out for 10 hour shifts, and vaping while off work. I am currently at 6mg and ~75/25 vg/pg. I don't even wanna go through the trouble of leaving the premises or stealth vaping... just isnt sounding like a hendonistic approach...
Just another example of big business trying to make/save money....

Im not gonna try to fight it....

...This will just influence me to leave this company, sooner than expected with these type of rules.....

It's kind of funny how a lot of companies are starting to go that way these days. There is even a city here in the Bay Area that is going to hire only non smokers from now on. What a joke that is. They think it's going to save them money. The only outcome that can happen is they will lose out on hiring a lot of good talent. Whenever you discriminate for whatever the reason, you will lose out on good employees. If you are going to discriminate against smokers and vapers, shouldn't you then discriminate against drivers? Driving is very dangerous and can either end your life in a split second or injure you permanently. The injuries sustained in a driving accident could send insurance rates through the roof. In fact, just last night a woman died in a car crash right down the street from me. An at the end of summer a man died down the street as well. And I way up at the top of the hills in a pretty rural area. Thank god they both died. Imagine how much insurance rates would have gone up if they were permanently injured. BTW, I was just being sarcastic when I said "Thank God they died". But I'll bet their insurance companies weren't. But with that said, we humans sure love to discriminate. Race, Religion, Sexual preference, Smoking, Vaping, you name it. If we can legally and or morally get away with it, we will do it.

If I were you, I would just vape in my car or in the bathroom or anywhere else I could find where no one is around.

Continue looking for another job as well. Something will eventually come along. Or better yet, become self employed. I left the corporate world over 20 years ago and it was the best move ever. My rules, my way, my stuff and sometimes my fault But hey, I can vape whenever I please! I'm not rich, but I'm not poor either. I'm just middle class, or maybe even upper middle class, and that's not a bad living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Give it a try. It just might work for you.