(a)  No employer or agent of any employer shall require, as a condition of employment, that any employee or prospective employee refrain from smoking or using tobacco products outside the course of his or her employment, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his or her compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment for smoking or using tobacco products outside the course of his or her employment. Provided, however, that the following employers shall be exempt from the provisions of this section: Any employer that is a nonprofit organization which as one of its primary purposes or objectives discourages the use of tobacco products by the general public.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-14

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Employee: means a person who is employed by an employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit and a person who volunteers his or her services for a nonprofit entity. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2
  • Employer: means a person, business, partnership, association, corporation, including a municipal corporation, trust, or nonprofit entity that employs the services of one or more individual persons. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-20.10-2

(b)  In any civil action alleging a violation of this section, the court may:

(1)  Award up to three (3) times the actual damages to a prevailing employee or prospective employee;

(2)  Award court costs to a prevailing employee or prospective employee;

(3)  Afford injunctive relief against any employer who commits or proposes to commit a violation of this chapter.

(c)  Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to affect any other provisions of this title.

History of Section.
P.L. 2004, ch. 198, § 2; P.L. 2004, ch. 209, § 2.