BUSINESSES are still baffled by the smoking ban, four weeks after it was introduced.
The new law was brought in on July 1 to ban smoking in all enclosed spaces, including offices, pubs and restaurants.
Despite a large-scale publicity campaign, it seems many people are still unsure of the rules and a number of people are resorting to extreme tactics in order to flout the ban.
Legal experts at Employment Law Advisory Services have been bombarded with calls from concerned businesses.
More than 40% of their total calls since July 1 related to the smoking ban.
The most common queries come from managers who were confused about what to do if they caught someone smoking or if workers refused to abide by the new rules.
One came from a nursing home which had a resident who was kicking up a fuss because he was no longer allowed to smoke downstairs.
One of the most bizarre calls received by ELAS came from a manager who had caught a member of staff holding a cigarette through a mesh fence.
The worker claimed he wasn’t smoking within the office site as he was holding the cigarette on the other side of the fence.
When he was challenged as to how he actually smoked the cigarette, he came unstuck as he couldn’t get his mouth through the fence to take a puff.
He was given a final warning, but his boss would have been quite within his rights to sack him.
PETER MOONEY is a spokesman for the Employment Law Advisory Services.