can you be forced to team with a smoker when you are not?

Actually, there ARE federal regulations in place to protect non-smokers. You may have excellent grounds for a lawsuit since it appears Carolina Cargo violated OSHA rules by forcing you to be subjected to secondhand smoke whether you said something or not. Federal law always trumps state law and OSHA directs employers must accommodate non-smokers via separation from smokers in the workplace.Employers have been held liable for employee exposure to secondhand smoke in numerous cases, including those based on workers' compensation, state and federal disability law, and the duty to provide a safe workplace free of secondhand smoke.

From the US National Library of Medicine's website:

"Workers who are not currently protected by state or local laws that create smoke-free workplaces nevertheless have legal options available. For example,

• an employee could file a workers' compensation claim against an employer for illness or injury attributable to exposure to secondhand smoke on the job. Such claims may increase an employer's workers' compensation premiums,
• an employee could file a disability discrimination claim that an employer failed to provide a "reasonable accommodation"'in this instance protection from exposure to secondhand smoke'if the worker has a disability (such as asthma) that is exacerbated by exposure to secondhand smoke, or
• an employee could file a claim that the employer failed to provide a safe workplace, based on a common law duty."
• 
  
  Consult an attorney. You may have grounds for the above-mentioned transgressions AND discrimination against a non-smoker.

 

as a general rule for anything in life for any adult

you cannot be forced to do anything, unless you are in handcuffs

 

Carolina Cargo is a team operation with forced dispatch. They are up front about this; it's even on their website. The issue with smoking in the workplace; smoking in trucks has already been in the court system and you can smoke in the truck except with flammable/explosive hazmat.

This trucking company is one of very few, willing to hire drivers who need a second chance to get back into the workforce. Don't know if you're in that catagory or not, but those that are can easily burn the last bridge behind them if they don't keep everything in perspective.

 

Smoking in the truck is one thing, smoking in the truck and subjecting (FORCING) a non-smoker to endure it is another issue completely and totally illegal.

 

Are smokers allowed to light up in an office full of cubicles?

 

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/smokefree/sf1/

Ohio considers a truck to be a workplace. Two drivers in a company truck would have to follow this ruling. One driver does not.

 

I've had a couple trainees in the truck with me. They both smoked. I dont,.. so guess what? Neither did they.

They got out and hot boxed their cigs at fuel and rest stops. Climbing back in smelling like a dirty ash tray. I hand the guy a can of Axe body spray. He asks,.. whats that for? I said you stink. Gave me a dirty look,.. sprayed it and climbed back up in the top bunk.

I would quit before I got in a confined space like a semi cab with someone who smoked while driving.

I made a suggestion for one guy to buy some of those E-Cigs. He took my advice. It was a little disconcerting at first. You see the little red light as he takes a drag. You see the smoke as he exhales. Your nose is expecting a noxious smell that never comes. Have to admit,.. I didnt really like the idea of it. But he wasnt smoking, so I allowed it.

Hurst

 

Might need to consider your own truck. Were not girl scouts, were Truckers. If you don't like Team, change it.

 

The only people that can force you to do anything are, well, no one...