A federal appeals panel has upheld a smoking ban at 139-bed ACMH Hospital in Kittanning, Pa., disagreeing with an arbitrator's decision striking down the ban, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
United Steelworkers Local 158-06, representing clerks, nurse aides and other nonprofessional workers at the hospital, filed a grievance after the ban was implemented on Jan. 1, 2009. The arbitrator ruled the ban was unreasonable because employees were accustomed to a designated smoking area.
But in May, U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry overturned the arbitrator's decision and the appeals panel agreed with the judge. The panel ruled that the arbitrator was improperly trying to create a new right for employees by concluding that their expectation of a designated smoking area constituted a protected right.
Read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report on smoking bans.
Read more coverage of hospital smoking bans:
- Where There's No Smoke, There's Still Fire: Repercussions of Smoker-Free Hospitals
- Hospitals Send Message to Smokers: Apply Elsewhere
- Hospital's Ban on Hiring Smokers Raises Questions of Discrimination
United Steelworkers Local 158-06, representing clerks, nurse aides and other nonprofessional workers at the hospital, filed a grievance after the ban was implemented on Jan. 1, 2009. The arbitrator ruled the ban was unreasonable because employees were accustomed to a designated smoking area.
But in May, U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry overturned the arbitrator's decision and the appeals panel agreed with the judge. The panel ruled that the arbitrator was improperly trying to create a new right for employees by concluding that their expectation of a designated smoking area constituted a protected right.
Read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report on smoking bans.
Read more coverage of hospital smoking bans:
- Where There's No Smoke, There's Still Fire: Repercussions of Smoker-Free Hospitals
- Hospitals Send Message to Smokers: Apply Elsewhere
- Hospital's Ban on Hiring Smokers Raises Questions of Discrimination