Smokers ‘too much trouble to employ` as Council considers making them ‘clock off` for cigarette breaks

Simon Clark, Director of lobby group Forest, Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco has expressed concern that smokers will lose out on jobs because their lives at work will become "so complicated that employers will decide it`s too much trouble to employ them."

The warning comes as Breckland Council in Norfolk became the latest local authority to consider making workers clock off when they take a cigarette break.  The Council say the move comes from a survey of staff and aims to make things fairer for non-smokers.  Forest have hit back against what they call the ‘tyranny of the majority`.

The Council will consider the proposals at a meeting today.

Breckland are not the first local authority to take action, other councils now impose clocking off policies for smokers and in 2005 Nottingham City Council banned workers from taking smoke breaks during working hours.  Requiring workers to clock off to smoke and banning smoking breaks could lead to cost-savings and ensure better value for taxpayers` money.  Many private sector employers have enforced equivalent rules for some time, especially since the introduction of the smoking ban in 2007. 

For further information check out the factsheets and smoke-free policies and guidance in Employmentbuddy`s HR Resources, under Health and Safety.