Firms look at regulating e-smokes

Tyson, others view devices same as regular tobacco use

Mercy Renteria displays e-cigarette and e-hookah brands Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 at the Smokers Paradise store in Porterville. Both poularity and variety of e-cigarettes has increased since last year.The customers can purchase e-cigarettes with and without nicotine. One refill of e-cigarette is almost equivalent to a pack of cigarettes. At the store, e-hookah is the best selling item among e-cigarettes. (AP Photo/The Porterville Recorder, Chieko Hara)
Mercy Renteria displays e-cigarette and e-hookah brands Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 at the Smokers Paradise store in Porterville. Both poularity and variety of e-cigarettes has increased since last year.The customers can purchase e-cigarettes with and without nicotine. One refill of e-cigarette is almost equivalent to a pack of cigarettes. At the store, e-hookah is the best selling item among e-cigarettes. (AP Photo/The Porterville Recorder, Chieko Hara)

Depending on perspective, employees at Tyson Foods might feel either fortunate or frustrated that the company views electronic cigarette use no different than their traditional tobacco counterparts.

Use of the battery-powered devices must be limited to designated smoking areas throughout Tyson’s operations. That means stepping away from work for a quick hit of nicotine, and in the winter months that requires getting bundled up in order to do so.

Employees who use e-cigarettes, though, are eligible for a break on health insurance rates if they quit. This is no different than the way the company handles tobacco products. In that regard, Tyson’s policies could be viewed favorably by its employees who use e-cigarettes.

“We make available the same cessation programs to e-cigarette users as we do tobacco users,” Tyson spokesman Dan Fogleman said. “As they complete the program that makes them eligible for some incentives that can lower their health insurance rates.”

As e-cigarettes become more popular as an alternative to tobacco, workplaces are working to figure out how to classify and regulate them. A sampling of public companies in Arkansas reveals that whether it’s a trucking firm, a tech company or something in between, there are no uniform policies in how e-cigarettes are regulated in the workplace.

Tyson’s willingness to provide insurance breaks for e-cigarette users who quit is generally ahead of the curve of its peers.

Some workplaces, like Arkansas Best in Fort Smith, have formally updated company policy. David Humphrey, vice president for investor relations at Arkansas Best, said the company updated its wording in 2013 to ban the use of e-cigarettes and smoke vaporizers with cigarettes, pipes and cigars.

Wal-Mart launched a smoking cessation program in 2011. Today the company counts e-cigarettes as part of the program and offers users looking to quit counseling, nicotine gum and other tools to aid the process. Unlike Tyson it doesn’t offer any sort of breaks on insurance rates once employees have quit.

At Windstream Communications in Little Rock, the employee relations group recently included e-cigarettes as part of its company policy, said vice president for corporate affairs David Avery. Employees who have been tobacco or nicotine free for six months are eligible for points in the workplace wellness program that pays out up to $1,000.

Car-Mart of Bentonville, on the other hand, has no specific policies regarding the use of e-cigarettes. It seems to be understood at corporate headquarters and among the 1,200 or so associates nationwide that the tobacco alternative is no different than traditional cigarettes.

“We haven’t had any real associate issues with people wanting to smoke inside that I’ve heard of,” said Rob Hey, vice president of staffing and development at Car-Mart. “I assume most people consider them like they would tobacco products. I see the stores popping up everywhere. I know they’re becoming more popular and we’ve had some discussions, but nothing formal.”

Peter Denholtz, a national advocate for e-cigarette use and co-founder of the Henley Vaporium in New York City, said companies should not take a one-size-fits-all approach to regulating its employees’ use of tobacco and nicotine. Denholtz said many e-cigarette users are using as a step toward quitting tobacco products.

Henley’s website points to more than 400,000 tobacco cigarette deaths in the U.S. per year as a reason for users to make the switch. E-cigarettes are believed to contain fewer carcinogens than tobacco cigarettes.

“By regulating them same as traditional cigarettes, you’re putting smokers who might be trying to quit around the smoke they’re trying to avoid,” said Denholtz, a former tobacco user. “It’s quite brilliant. I’m sure you hear the sarcasm in my voice as I say that, right?

“Many of these regulations are a complete knee-jerk reaction coming from uninformed and uneducated points of view.”

Setting a workplace policy on the use of e-cigarettes is legally no different than setting a dress code or specifying break times, according to Theresa Beiner, a professor at UALR’s William H. Bowen School of Law. While e-cigarettes do not necessarily produce secondhand smoke, there are vapors released into the air that are a cause of concern for non-users. Plus, the use in an office could be deemed as a distraction, Beiner said.

“Employers generally have a fair amount of discretion in workplace policies,” Beiner said. “Unless something is illegal for another reason, let’s say it violates employment discrimination laws, the American’s With Disabilities Act or OSHA - they can pretty much do whatever they want.”

Business, Pages 69 on 01/19/2014

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