First tribunal decision on vaping – employers beware!
If you have a smoking policy but you don’t explicitly mention e-cigarettes & you then rely on that policy in making any disciplinary or dismissal decisions about vaping you could find yourself the subject of an unfair dismissal claim.
Apparently because an e-cigarette doesn’t involve a lit substance it is technically not “smoking” and therefore the wording in a conventional smoking policy is unlikely to cover e-cigarettes.
Furthermore e-cigarettes don’t come under the same legal bans as cigarette smoking does so employers can’t rely on that in making decision.
So employers you need to let all your employees know the company position on the use of e-cigarettes and if you have a smoking policy get it updated