Related Links:  Please view Stephen Barth’s Challenge to the Hospitality Industry to Go Non-Smoking

Beijing announced on Friday that it would ban smoking in time for the Olympics.  The ban would cover most public buildings.  According to the USAToday article, “restaurants, bars, and hotels can still allow smoking but must provide smoke-free areas or rooms.”  In a city where “23% of those above age 15 smoke,” one restaurant preempted the ban and went smoke free last week.  The restaurateur already reports improved business and customer satisfaction. 

Mexico City also has recently banned smoking in all public areas.  Read the blog post here.

Sheraton Hotels recently announced a smoke-free policy.

Choice Hotels’ Comfort Suites brand is also 100% smoke free. 

Atlantic City recently closed a loophole in its state’s smoking ban, which allowed smoking in gambling halls.  According to the Associated Press article, casino employees supported the initiative, wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Nobody deserves to work in an ashtray” emblazoned across the front. 

Isn’t it time your business supported a smoke-free policy as well? 

Technorati Profile

MEXICO CITY, one of the world’s smoggiest cities, has banned smoking in all public spaces, including bars, restaurants and office buildings. Mexico City is the largest city in the world to pass a smoking ban. Exceptions to the new law, which was passed by the city assembly late last year, include parks, soccer stadiums and outdoor seating areas. Smokers who violate the new law will be fined between $50 and $300, with higher fines, including closure, for restaurant and bar owners who ignore the rules.

Technorati Profile

Christian Stegmaier, shareholder at South Carolina’s law firm Collins and Lacy, GAHA member since 2006, and presenter at the 2007 and 2008 Annual Hospitality Law Conferences, writes, the following memo:

According to the mainstream media, our country is in an economic slowdown, perhaps a recession.  Whether you believe the news reports or not, we do know that personal injury lawsuits are recession-proof gold mines for plaintiffs’ attorneys.  Studies regarding the uptick in litigation during economic downturns show that when times are bad, individuals look around for economic life rafts.  The promise of riches by way of a settlement or judgment from a big corporation or insurer is too alluring for many who are facing dire economic straits.

When faced with a claim in these times, it’s important to immediately work to separate the wheat from the chaff. The key for corporate risk managers, insurers, or third party administrators therefore is to make a rapid response.  To ignore a claimant or fail to timely investigate the claim may likely result in your company receiving service of process in short order.  Accordingly, upon notice of loss, contact the location.  Is there video footage or other important claim-related materials, like an incident report?  Secure it.  Are there witnesses?  Locate them and learn their side of the story.  Is the claimant willing to talk with you? Get him or her on the phone and learn more about the claim.  The more you learn in the days following a report of loss, the better you will be to respond to an eventual demand from the claimant.  Knowledge is power.  If the claim is junk, it will be easier to establish that when memories are fresh and evidence can be collected.

Additionally, talking with the claimant as soon as possible will put you in a good position to gauge his or her reasonableness early on.  If the claimant in a small or modest claim starts talking about “pain and suffering,” talking with a lawyer, or refuses to send you documentation regarding medical bills, etc, you can likely see where the case is headed and set your reserves accordingly.  On the other hand, if the claimant is responsive and cooperative to your requests for information, you are likely standing in a good position to resolve the matter without it having go into litigation. 

In attempting to evaluate the claim, be smart about it.  Don’t just pay a claim just to get it closed.  You may just be giving money away, which in turn cuts into the bottom line.  Carefully analyze the facts of the case, the applicable law, the venue, the level of damages, the type of claimant you are dealing with, and the potential defense costs.  If it’s a good claim from the claimant’s perspective and he or she is reasonable, then look to get it done.  However, if it is not a good claim and/or the claimant is unreasonable as it relates to his or her settlement expectations, don’t be so quick to throw money at it.  Word does get around on the Plaintiff’s Bar’s Listserve about who are the “easy marks” as it relates to personal injury claims.  Don’t be that guy.  Defend the cases that need defending. 

A word about your local counsel: You have relationships with counsel in all the different places where you operate.  Take advantage of that relationship.  If you have questions about the law in the jurisdiction where the matter is pending; the venue’s characteristics; the likelihood of an adverse outcome; or any other matter pertaining to the claim you are investigating, call your lawyer.  He or she values your relationship and wants to help you, even if that doesn’t mean opening up a file.  If you don’t have that type of relationship with your lawyer, maybe it’s time to find new counsel.  The considerate lawyer that cares about you and the ongoing relationship his or her firm has with your company will be glad to respond to your questions and provide you with the information you are seeking.

Bottom Line Observations:

• Be responsive to claims;
• Defend the claims that need defending (dubious liability; unrealistic settlement expectations);
• Settle the claims that can be settled where liability appears certain and the settlement expectations are reasonable; and
• When in doubt, call your local counsel to confer about any questions you may have about your evaluation of your claim.

All posts are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

Technorati Profile

Current Legislation Gap 

As you are aware, many local communities and states have passed legislation to restrict smoking in the workplace.  These ordinances are fairly inclusive in nature but most stop short of being comprehensive.  Local and state politics as well as special interests prohibit a total no-smoking ban, particularly in the hospitality arena.  Many local ordinances contain a number of exemptions.  For example, bars may be exempt or restaurants and bars will have exemptions for outdoor seating areas.  Hotels will have exemptions for lobbies, banquet rooms, and a percentage of guest rooms.  The main justification for the exemptions is that the local industry will suffer due to the migration of business from smokers to businesses outside the jurisdiction of the ordinance.   

Solution and Scope of Benefits 

The only solution is a comprehensive ban that equals the playing field and makes the argument moot.  I think there is a great deal of support for a comprehensive smoke free initiative from the hospitality industry for the following reasons:  

- It dramatically reduces worker health issues.
- It eliminates the business migration concern.
- It greatly reduces maintenance and replacement costs.
- It substantially reduces the risk of a fire due to a lit cigarette.
- Specifically for the lodging industry, it eliminates problems of allocating guest rooms based on smoking and non-smoking.
- Given what science has told us about the dangers of secondhand smoke, it is becoming indefensible for restaurants and bars to have their employees working in smoking environments.  It is even more remarkable when we realize that many of these same employees are not provided health insurance. 

Indeed, several large lodging chains, such as Marriott and Westin, have already gone smoke-free voluntarily.  According to company representatives, the results have been extremely positive.   

Other Reasons to Support A Nationwide Ban 

Preempting Union Initiatives 

Not going smoke-free leaves our industry vulnerable to union initiatives, as the employee health concern is an open invitation for union necessity.   

Tourism  

The dollar is declining and making the U.S. more attractive to foreign tourists.  Demand is high, so now is the time to take the lead (as we did with the airlines and with the ADA) to demonstrate to the world that we not only do things well, but we do the right things. 

So let’s not wait for a comprehensive federal ban.  Let’s go smoke-free, inside and out because it is the right thing to do for all of our employees, all of our guests, and all of our businesses.  Having a smoking section, inside or outside, is like having a  

peeing section in a swimming pool. 

Smoking is an Assault and Battery on Non-Smokers 

Smoking around people that do not smoke while knowing that smoke drifts and will end up on another person or breathed in by another person is an assault and battery. In layman’s terms, it is the equivalent of an unwelcome and offensive touching. Hospitality operators would never tolerate a guest spitting or urinating on another customer and similarly we should never allow a guest to smoke around our customers, inside or outside. Smoke DRIFTS throughout patios, parking garages, sidewalks, from guestroom to guestroom and from smoking floors to non smoking floors. 

Contrary to the belief of many in our industry, smokers do not have a right to smoke when that smoke touches another person…period. One person’s civil rights end where another person’s civil rights begin. Simply put, by accommodating and/or promoting smoking on our properties we are aiding and abetting an assault and battery on our customers and our employees. 

To see a humorous, unique perspective on the impact of smoking on non-smokers, view this video. 

Conclusion 

Let’s stop putting short-term shareholder wealth above short- and long-term employee and customer health.   

This idea that we allow smoking “to accommodate ALL of our guests” is just a pretext, a disingenuous justification so some can try to squeeze marginal revenue out of their properties at the expense of the health of their non smoking customers and their employees. 

Let’s follow the courageous example of Westin and Marriott and the thousands of independent hotel and restaurant operators and be tobacco-free, inside and outside.  It is the right thing to do, for all of our customers, our employees, our facilities, and our bottom lines.   

Helpful Links:

- Reuters Article:  Toxin detected after 1 shift in smoky bar: study

- The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General

- Restaurant Owner, Manager & Employee Quotes In Support Of Smokefree Air by the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights

- Casino Management & Policymakers Support Smokefree Casinos and Smokefree Gaming by the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights

- Casino Employees Support Smokefree Casinos and Smokefree Gaming by the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights

- Economic Impact of Smokefree Ordinances: An Overview by the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights

- Business Costs In Smoke-filled Environments by the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights

- Not Blowing Any Smoke – Bill Marriott’s Blog on the effect of Marriott’s smoke free policy

Technorati Profile

HospitalityLawyer.com is the hospitality industry’s web-based resource for legal, safety, and security solutions.  Our mission is to create a worldwide network of attorneys that focus on hospitality, travel and tourism issues; to be a marketing conduit for suppliers of legal, safety and security solutions to reach hospitality developers and operators in need of those solutions; and to mitigate critical incidents, injuries, litigation and liability within the hospitality industry, in the U.S. and abroad by facilitating the creation, collection, and dissemination of legal, safety and security information, products and services.

We are currently working on the blog to make it relevant to the industry.  Please check back soon for more posts.  In the interim, please visit HospitalityLawyer.com

Technorati Profile