Labor union: Smoking
a disability

New Zealand's largest labor union is arguing employers must not refuse to employ smokers, because smoking is a disability that cannot be helped.

Andrew Little, head of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, responded to a ruling by the country's Human Rights Commission that said employers can ban smokers because smoking is not a human right, the New Zealand Herald reported.

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The controversy began when the health board on New Zealand's South Island rejected smokers who applied to become counselors for a program to help the indigenous Maoris quit smoking.

"We are very concerned about the precedent this sets," said Council of Trade Unions President Ross Wilson, according to the paper. "Whether someone smoked was irrelevant to their work. The issue is whether the person is able to do the job."

Little argues smoking is an addiction and therefore could be considered a disability.

The country's Human Rights Act bars discrimination on the basis of disability.

An employment law expert told the Herald, however, smokers rejected because of their habit would have difficulty arguing a discrimination case because smoking does not fall into Human Rights Act categories such as sex, race and marital status.

However, Bill Hodge, associate professor of law at the University of Auckland, agrees technically smoking could be considered a disability, the Herald reported.

That would give smokers the right to take complaints to the Human Rights Commission or Human Rights Review Tribunal.

But those panels would argue smokers made a decision to take up the habit. And, if smoking were classified as a disability, health-related employers could contend smoking makes applicants unsuitable for certain roles.

Said a spokeswoman for Health Minister Annette King, "You wouldn't hire smokers to give advice to people to give up smoking; it makes sense."