To think no one should have to sit in a smoky room for employment?

[orangegeranium]

D

With the company I work for, people accessing our services must not smoke for an hour before we turn up. We also have the right to refuse the client due to passive smoking. The company can either withdraw care or can risk assess and find someone willing to go in.

"and then I learn that they've discussed it with friends or family, I will sack them."

And hopefully they will take you to a tribunal because they would have been sacked unfairly.

Because you cannot sack for unfair reasons a contract has to be fair and legal you cannot just put any old stuff in and expect it to hold up in court.

Ie i cannot have a clause saying when you work for me you are not allowed to drink water or use the rest room. Or that you are not allowed to drive to work or interfere with things outside work that doesnt effect work like you are not allowed to go to church on Sundays because we as employers are atheists.

And if it went to tribunal it would cost you quite a lot for unfair dismissal.

I think though Freudian you employ people directly; this is not the case here. The lady does not employ my sister, the company does.

You have the right to respect for your privacy "on an equal basis with others". If I employ someone and attempt to enforce conditions hazardous to their health then they have the right to complain and also to moan to their family about their treatment whether or not I am disabled. That's not an arbitrary or unlawful attack on my privacy, it's necessary in order to protect the worker's safety.

The sooner smoking is outright made illegal the better (never likely to happen sadly).

Your right to privacy does not extend to things that directly effect your employees eg smoking if you decided to slap them or insult them. As in you cannot have a clause saying you have no right to discuss my outragous behaviour towards your employees with anyone else as your privacy does not trump someones right to complain about shitty behaviour they would be infact within there rights to blacklist you.

Yes care companies have blacklists you mistreat your carers and you could end up blacklisted so few agencies would work for you.

YANBU. Cigarette smoke is a poison that is proven to kill people. Your sister's health is at risk just as it would be if there was rat poison spilled round the place or exposed electrical wiring. I'm amazed that her agency don't insist on no smoking during visits as a condition of care.

The person who is getting the care from your sister is horribly selfish. She should be so grateful that people are caring for her. Most people that still smoke, don't do so in their homes anymore (do they?). Only the selfish gits.

Your poor sister. I wouldn't stay in a room with a smoker.

I think the confidentiality aspect of things is a red herring here. As long as OPs sister hasn't said to OP "mrs x from x village won't stop smoking" then it's not a breach of confidentiality.

I'm a HCP and when I get home I may well say to dh that I've had an awful day, that we had an awful case in theatre and the patient nearly bled out and had to have a 30 unit blood transfusion. As long as I'm not naming names,I'm not being too specific and I'm keeping things vague enough to ensure nobody can be identified then that's acceptable. We're human and sometimes need to offload.