Help Wanted: Smokers vs. nurses
Photo credit: iStock | A nonsmoking nurse working in a nursing home wants to know: Can our employer legally make us accompany patients while they smoke outside?
Carrie Mason-Draffen
Carrie Mason-Draffen Mason-Draffen, a business reporter, writes a column about workplace issues.
DEAR CARRIE: I am a nurse, and I work in a nursing home. Can our employer legally make us accompany patients while they smoke outside? The task falls largely to the nurses' aides, who are mostly nonsmokers. I am, too, and when the office is short of help I have to go outside with patients as well. To make matters worse, we sometimes have to light their cigarettes. The area where they smoke is a...
