No rights for smokers

last updated 8 January 2015

Brussels

The European Union said this week that its laws forbidding discrimination do not protect smokers. A British member of the European Parliament asked the E.U.’s executive body to rule on a job listing for an Irish Web business that stipulated “smokers need not apply.” The E.U. said the ad was perfectly legal, as anti-discrimination laws cover only race, sex, sexual preference, and disability. The Web company’s director, Philip Tobin, said he found that smokers made bad employees, as they were anti-social, smelly, and unhealthy. The ruling apparently clears the way for employers to fire workers who smoke, even if they don’t light up in the workplace.