The following is an excert from California Labor Code section 6404.5 and is the main citation that bars continue to use when claiming that the smoking law doesn't apply to them. Many bars that fall into this exception have stopped allowing smoking, because the enforcement agencies would write them a ticket anyway and it became more of a headache (not to mention expensive when attorneys are involved) to continue to fight.
(14) Employers with a total of five or fewer employees, either full-time or part-time, may permit smoking where all of the following conditions are met:
(A) The smoking area is not accessible to minors.
(B) All employees who enter the smoking area consent to permit smoking. No one, as part of his or her work responsibilities, shall be required to work in an area where smoking is permitted. An employer who is determined by the division to have used coercion to obtain consent or who has required an employee to work in the smoking area shall be subject to the penalty provisions of Section 6427.
(C)Air from the smoking area shall be exhausted directly to the outside by an exhaust fan. Air from the smoking area shall not be recirculated to other parts of the building.
(D)The employer shall comply with any ventilation standard or other standard utilizing appropriate technology, including, but not limited to, mechanical, electronic, and biotechnical systems, adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board or the federal Environmental Protection Agency. If both adopt inconsistent standards, the ventilation standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board shall be no less stringent than the standards adopted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
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smoking
Posted - 01/25/2007 : 1:31:10 PM
