A lawsuit filed by casino employee groups seeking to force the state to end the casino exemption to the indoor smoking ban has gathered support from prominent state lawmakers.
Last week, state Senator Joe Vitale, chairman of the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee, publicly supported a lawsuit aimed at banning smoking in Atlantic City casinos.
After several failed attempts to lobby the New Jersey Legislature for a casino smoking ban, the group of Atlantic City casino dealers known as Casino Employees Against Smoking Effects (CEASE) joined with the union representing them, the United Auto Workers, to file a lawsuit against the state seeking to force closure of the loophole that allows smoking in Atlantic City casinos.
The group has joined with the union and the national group Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) in a years-long campaign to end the casino exception in the state’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act, which banned indoor smoking at nearly all other public spaces. Their efforts have been frustrated by lawmakers beholden to the casino lobby, which maintains the position that ending smoking in Atlantic City casinos would lead to an economic calamity ending in more casino closures.
Last week, Vitale criticized state lawmakers for failing to protect employee health, calling its inaction on a smoking ban a “shameful legacy.”
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is seeking a two-week delay in the first hearing related to the lawsuit. CEASE assailed that effort in a statement last week.
“Every day that goes by is another day that tens of thousands of casino workers are exposed to dangerous secondhand smoke,” Pete Naccarelli, co-founder of CEASE, said in the statement. “It’s not acceptable for any other worker, why is it OK for us? We urge the rejection of any delay. Our smoke-filled work environment is not only dangerous—it’s unconstitutional. Let’s finally put an end to this nonsense.”
Meanwhile, ANR has initiated an effort to appeal directly to shareholders of major casino operators to end smoking on their floors. The organization has joined with Trinity Health to file shareholder proposals to be voted on at meetings of Bally’s Corporation, Boyd Gaming and Caesars Entertainment in the coming weeks seeking action by the casino stakeholders to end smoking on casino floors.
