Update on my employee who is a smoker and requested extra break time due to her disability.
First, wrong terminology on my part was used when I wrote in. The campus is non-tobacco use, not just non-smoking.
Second, Deleana is an excellent worker other than her tardiness in coming back from breaks.
I did ask my other employees if they would prefer one long 30-minute break or two shorter 15-minute breaks. 100% of the other employees (I didn’t ask Deleana) prefer having two breaks, so the break policy will stay the same.
Deleana did come back with a doctor’s note for her disability. Apparently, she was in a serious car accident years ago and shattered her knee. Due to this, she is limited on how fast she can walk/run. The note involved an accommodation allowing extra time to complete tasks where she has to walk an extended distance. I explained to her that if I had an issue with how long it was taking her to walk from the back of the store to the front to greet a customer, this would apply as it is related to her job tasks. I have no issues with her on this. Going to her car to have a smoke break is not a job-related task so the note doesn’t apply. I told her she is a great asset to the business and team but disciplinary action would be taken, including termination, if the tardiness continues. Obviously, it did not go the way she wanted and said she would take steps to correct the issue.
The first step was when she came into work chewing nicotine (?) gum. I had to remind her, per the employee handbook, that no food or drink (including gum) is allowed out on the sales floor. Then she started using the nicotine patches, but she has said it was making her “agitity” and doesn’t like them, so quit using them. Starting this week she will be gone for two weeks as her daughter is having a baby. A few days ago, we were talking about this and she mentioned that having a grandchild would be a good excuse to quit smoking and planned on going “cold turkey” when she left to go to her daughter’s house. I wished her the best of luck in quitting smoking.
As of now that is where it stands. In a perfect world she comes back as a non-smoker and I hope she does.
Note from me: the nicotine gum might actually be considered a reasonable accommodation under the law, unless there’s a genuine work-related reason she can’t use it (for example, if she works around fragile textile fibers or similar, but not just because you generally don’t permit it). It’s worth running that by HR or legal counsel.