Is it legal to not hire someone because they smoke?

Answer 1

Honestly, no, if they weren't suitable for the position that would be okay... but smoking isn't making you a horrible worker... so it has no implement on how you do as a job. Now, if someone has a strict "no smoking period" sign than they do have the ability to decline your application because of that reason.

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Most of the time you cannot refuse to hire someone just because they smoke unless you can show it is relevant to the qualifications for the position. If you can show that smoking will impact their ability to do the job then you can refuse to hire them.

For example:

In some cases the bad breath and general stink of a person who smokes heavily WILL impact their ability to work in close proximity with customers and others and could thus be a factor in hiring a non-smoker in preference to a smoker.

Those working in "clean room" environments also have more difficulty with decontamination to the required level if they smoke heavily - especially when coming back from smoke breaks - and thus it could impact their ability to work there.

The effects of smoking could produce health effects that would disqualify people from some jobs that require high levels of fitness - especially respiratory and cardiac fitness - if they prevent them from passing rigorous and physically demanding tests designed to test their ability to perform the tasks that are commonly part of the job.

Also keep in mind that someone who smokes may not be overtly rejected for employment based on their smoking, but if they person doing the interviews dislikes the way they look and smell and sound because of their smoking but says nothing about the smoking in their evaluation of the job candidate it would be pretty tough to win any case claiming discrimination.