ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030042
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHICAGO
SOURCE: CLIFF EDWARDS ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, YOU'RE FIRED. Employees who rush out to their cars for a chat over their cellular phones better not light up.
Motorola Inc. thinks having a phone in your car is great, but workers who smoke - in their own automobiles - on company property could get fired.
Beginning next month, a fourth offense of smoking on company property will will be grounds for dismissal at cellular plants in suburban Libertyville and Harvard, where a plant is opening soon.
A constitutional law expert says Motorola is within its rights as a private company to limit smoking on its property, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to enforce the ban in workers' cars.
Some would argue it's ``too paternalistic,'' Martin Redish of Northwestern University's School of Law said Tuesday.
The American Civil Liberties Union finds the ban ``morally tainted,'' said Illinois chapter spokeswoman Valerie Phillips.
Gary Hawkins, a 51-year-old Motorola cellular repair worker and four-time-a-day smoker, couldn't agree more. ``They're treating us like kindergartners, slapping our hands because we're smoking,'' Hawkins said. ``Smoking is not illegal. They're going to look pretty silly putting on my termination notice, `Smoking in own vehicle.'''
The company says the ban covers about 6,000 employees who have been offered smoking cessation programs. The goal is to promote health and reduce litter as well as ``confrontations and parking lot incidents'' on which a spokesman would not elaborate.
The ACLU is looking into whether it could sue Motorola for firing someone for off-duty activities, Phillips said.
``We can respect the need for employees to have clean air in the workplace, but this policy clearly goes much further,'' she said.
Thomas Lauria, a spokesman for the Tobacco Institute, said the issue isn't so much legal as ethical, and a public relations nightmare for the company.
``We've heard of many crazy smoking bans, but we haven't heard of companies going so far as to ban employees in their own cars,'' Lauria said. ``It's a bad idea for Motorola because they're now going to be branded as one of those intrusive corporations that doesn't respect the privacy of their adult employees.''
But John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, believes Motorola is fully within its rights.
``I can think of a dozen different things people might do in their cars that might be relaxing or stress-relieving that, if you did them, you could be fired over it,'' Banzhaf said.
Motorola has different smoking policies at its various facilities. At the Schaumburg headquarters, smokers can use a ventilated room and are allowed to smoke outside.
Motorola said smoking has been banned on the Libertyville property since 1991. The company said it decided to make clear how the ban would be enforced because it was being misunderstood and disregarded.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB