A complete ban on smoking was imposed throughout all of the company’s facilities by an employer 50% of whose work force smokes.  The union argued that “the ban on smoking in Company facilities raised stress and anxiety levels, created a hardship for smokers, and posed a risk to their health because they have to smoke outside in all types of weather.”  An arbitrator determined that the policy is reasonable, noting that the rule benefits the 50% of the work force that does not smoke and “the fact that smoking is a privilege and not a statutory or contractual right in the workplace.”

92 LA 457 (1992).