Workplace Smoking Rules in Utah

General provisions. Utah's Clean Indoor Air Act generally prohibits smoking in all enclosed indoor places of public access and in publicly owned buildings and offices. All local smoking ordinances are superseded by the state Act, unless they are essentially the same as the Act.

Exceptions to smoking restrictions. Utah's Clean Indoor Air Act does not apply to:

1. Buildings owned, rented or leased to social, fraternal or religious organizations when used solely by the members and their guests or families;
2. Any facility rented or leased for a private function when the public is excluded from the function and arrangement for the function are under the control of its sponsor;
3. Nonpublic workplaces;
4. Nonpublic areas of owner-operated businesses having no employees other than the owner-operator;
5. Guest rooms in lodging facilities (but not in common areas);
6. Taverns;
7. Private clubs; and
8. Separate enclosed smoking areas in passenger terminals of international airports in large cities that are vented directly to the outdoors and that do not allow any smoke to drift into nonsmoking areas.

Written policy requirements. An employer that operates a workplace that is not a place of public access or a publicly owned building or office must establish or negotiate through the collective bargaining process a written smoking policy. If an employer employs fewer than 10 full-time employees on a regular basis, the policy need not be in writing.

The written policy must do one of the following:

1. Prohibit smoking in the workplace;
2. Restrict smoking to designated enclosed smoking areas; or
3. Permit smoking in designated unenclosed smoking areas if the layout of the workplace prevents smoke in the work areas of all nonsmoking employees and 75 percent of the employees in the workplace agree to allowing smoking in unenclosed areas.

For the last requirement, employees must vote by written secret ballot, with at least two nonsmoking employees acting as witnesses and monitoring the vote counting. The employer must later keep a record on file of the vote with the witnesses' signatures.

Posting requirements. A building owner or business operator is generally required to post signs announcing whether or not smoking is allowed in a given area. The signs must be posted conspicuously on all entrances or in a position clearly visible on entry into the place. One of the following three types of signs may have to be used:

1. In a place where smoking is prohibited entirely, the sign must state "No smoking is permitted in this establishment" or a similar statement.
2. In a place where smoking is partially allowed, the sign must state "No smoking is permitted except in designated areas" or a similar statement.
3. In a place where smoking is permitted everywhere, the sign must state "This establishment is a smoking area in its entirety" or a similar statement.

When smoking is allowed, a sign must be posted stating something like "smoking permitted." Also, a sign must be posted announcing "smoking not permitted beyond this point" at exits leading from a smoking to a nonsmoking area.

Signs prohibiting or limiting smoking must be accompanied by the international no-smoking symbol (a cigarette inside a red circle with a line going through it). Similarly, signs allowing smoking must have the international smoking symbol (the same circle without the line through it).

The words "No Smoking" must always be at least one and a half inches in height. For further help, the Utah Department of Health can provide samples of signs that meet their requirements.

Employer responsibility. Where smoking in the workplace is prohibited, employers (or their agents, including their employees) that observe someone smoking in violation of the law must request that the person extinguish the tobacco product. If the person fails to comply, the employer must ask the person to leave the premises.

An employer is prohibited from retaliating or otherwise taking any adverse action against an employee or job applicant for seeking enforcement of the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act or the workplace smoking policy. An employer also cannot discriminate against an employee merely for protesting the smoking of others.

Designated smoking areas. When an employer provides a break room that serves as a smoking area, the employer must also provide a separate smoking-prohibited break room. At a minimum, the nonsmoking break room must be equal in size and have the same number of accessories (e.g. refrigerators, microwaves, tables).