Involuntary Smoking

Donna Shimp worked in an area of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company where other employees smoked cigarettes. Finding herself to be allergic to cigarette smoke, Shimp sought an injunction requiring the employer to ban smoking on the job and eventually won her case in 1976 before the Superior Court of New Jersey.absent. ¹ This case set a precedent for common-law protection of nonsmokers' rights. Other plaintiffs have followed Shimp's footsteps in demanding smoke-free working environments. The city of San Francisco passed an ordinance in 1983 requiring private businesses to satisfy any employee's demand for a smoke-free work area. Despite some controversy when it was enacted, the ordinance took effect on schedule without incident.