New York SBDC Research Network

From the Telegraph : A Japanese company is granting non-smoking employees an extra six days of paid holidays a year after they complained that they were working more than staff who took time off for cigarette breaks. Tokyo-based marketing firm Piala Inc. only introduced the non-smokers' perk in September, but employees have been quick to take advantage. "One of our non-smoking staff put a message in the company suggestion box earlier in the year saying that smoking breaks were causing problems", said Hirotaka Matsushima, a spokesman for the company. "Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate", Mr Matsushma told The Telegraph. Resentment among the non-smokers grew because the company's head office is on the 29th floor of an office block in the Ebisu district of Tokyo. Anyone wanting a cigarette had to go to the basement level, with each smoking break lasting around 15 minutes.

"1) Can I ask my company to remove the sick person from the workplace? "2) Is the employer required to remove the sick person from the workplace, as it is now (somewhat) unsafe? "I'm a pretty healthy person, so I should gain a few bonus days because of my relatively good health. I just HATE it when people come in sick." THE ANSWER, from CBS MoneyWatch HR guru Suzanne Lucas, HERE . The article also addresses the downside of switching over to "paid time off" (PTO) from a more traditional vacation- and sick-time policy.