>> What have employers previously been able to demand from employees on their private time, other than compliance with the law?<<
How far back do you want to go? Fact is, employers used to be able to fire you for whatever reason they wanted. It was none of the states business. But laws were passed.
Smokers were not protected because it is not politiacally correct to do so and the evidence that they are a drain on health care costs is undeniable.
And don't even get me started on the unending smoking breaks...
You're avoiding the question. There is a new precedent being established (and challenged) in that this employer is claiming authority over employees' private time. Smoke breaks are immaterial - that's company time, not private time, and if they want to act on that they do have the right.
As I outlined above, there are many other classes of people that can be targeted with this same reason (fat people are almost certain to be next). At what point do they come after you?
Back to the subject... can you give an example of an employer having authority over an employee's private time?
No kidding, all the smokers I work with take at least an extra 5 minutes per break, 3 times a day to get their fix of nicotine. Thats 5 minutes x 3 breaks per day x 5 days a week x 4 weeks a month x 12 month per year. And that doesn't include sneaking off on working periods to smoke either.
Tell me smoking doesn't affect your productivity and bottom line as an employer! HA!
As far as telling people what they can do with legal products on their own time, what about Pilots?
By law they are not allowed to drink legal alcohol 8 hours before a flight. I think the same applies to truck drivers, locomotive engineers and many others probably.
I worked at a place where if you had an accident at the plant the first thing they did was give you a breathalyser test. Guess what happened if alcohol showed up in your system that had been consumed at home, legally, before work??