If you are a non-smoker and have become sick because of environmental tobacco smoke at work, you may be entitled to Workers' Compensation benefits. More and more, employees are being awarded Workers' Compensation benefits after they show that environmental tobacco smoke in their work place caused medical problems, or worsened medical conditions that they already had. 

Environmental Tobacco Smoke

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), also known as second hand smoke, has become an acknowledged health risk.  Medical experts agree that ETS contains almost all the same toxins and carcinogens that have been identified in smoke inhaled by the smoker, though at less concentrated levels.  Exposure to ETS can cause or aggravate a variety of medical problems similar to those associated with smoking itself.

ETS Exposure as Occupational Illness

For workers' compensation purposes, recovery of benefits based upon exposure to ETS depends upon the circumstance of the situation.  Although each state has specific requirements, a person seeking Workers' Compensation benefits must usually show either an accidental injury or an illness that comes from some aspect of the working environment. To demonstrate an illness covered by Workers' Compensation, an employee must show a disease, caused by the conditions of the workplace, that has some direct connection to on-the-job duties or responsibilities.  For Workers' Compensation purposes, an illness that meets these criteria is known as an occupational disease.

In the past, employees claiming that they had suffered a work-related injury because of ETS were not successful.  Claims of occupational disease failed because exposure to smoke was not considered to have a direct connection to the person's on-the-job responsibilities.  Others did not receive benefits because they failed to show a link between the illness and the ETS or because the employee did not show that the ETS exposure was limited to the work environment.