Employers can refuse to give jobs to smokers

Employers have been told they can refuse to employ smokers and discriminate against them when advertising job vacancies.

Adverts saying “smokers need not apply” have been said to be perfectly legal by the European Commission. Sally Laughton at Andersons Solicitors in Nottingham, says it follows the instance of a firm in Ireland which said it wouldn’t hire smokers because they smelled and took too many days off work through sickness.

“The European Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla was asked to clarify whether an advertisement banning smokers breached European law. He ruled that it didn’t because discrimination laws only applied to matters such as race, disability, sex, age and religion.

“His opinions do not have the authority of a court ruling but it puts employers in a stronger position when it comes to refusing to employ smokers.”

The decision has been widely criticised by pro-smoking groups who say it’s an infringement of human rights because people should be free to do whatever they like in their own time.

Ms Laughton said: “It is something of a grey area and raises interesting questions as to how far employers can go in discriminating against certain groups. For example, there’s already growing evidence that many employers are reluctant to employ people who are overweight.

“A recent survey found that 93 per cent of 2000 firms questioned would rather appoint a job applicant of normal weight than someone who was obese but otherwise had the same qualifications and level of experience.

“Ten per cent of firms were even reluctant to let an obese employee meet a client. This could become a major issue in future.”

Meanwhile, Ms Laughton said there could be more bad news on the way for smokers. The European Commission is considering regulations to protect employees from the effects of passive smoking. If that happens then employers might become even more reluctant to employ smokers.

Sally Laughton is a Partner in the Employmetn Law Department at Andersons Solicitors in Nottingham. She can be contacted on info@andersonsolicitors.co.uk or tel: 0115 988 6721.

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