Ellwood City, Pa., police win court ruling on tobacco use

July 23, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

HARRISBURG

A western Pennsylvania police union has won a ruling from the state Supreme Court that borough officials may not unilaterally ban officers on duty from using smokeless tobacco in nonpublic work spaces or smoking in some official vehicles.

The decision made public Thursday said Ellwood City’s 2006 ban on tobacco use on borough property will have limited application to members of the police union, unless they agree to it through contract negotiations.

“While local legislation which promotes clean air and warns of the risks of tobacco use may be laudatory, it may not serve as a barrier to negotiations over this topic when it constitutes a working condition subject to mandatory bargaining,” wrote Justice Debra McCloskey Todd for the unanimous court.

The court overturned a 2008 Commonwealth Court ruling that had upheld the complete prohibition, but officers still are prevented from smoking in public places or inside borough buildings and vehicles used for mass transit because of the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act of 2008.

A divided Commonwealth Court panel had deemed the ban a legal exercise of the borough’s police powers, saying it was related to its efforts to promote health and welfare.

But Eric Stoltenberg, the lawyer for the union, the Ellwood City Police Wage and Policy Unit, called the ruling a victory for police and firefighter unions across the state.

“Our worry was geesh, now boroughs are going to start saying we did this under police power, and it’s a managerial right,” he said.

He said the Supreme Court’s ruling means the ban is automatically lifted.

If the borough and union can’t agree, the matter would have to be resolved by binding arbitration.

But Ellwood City Mayor Anthony Court said Thursday the borough’s 14 officers have been prevented from using chewing tobacco in nonpublic buildings or smoking in vehicles while the case was on appeal.

“Until it comes to the forefront, it’s going to stay status quo,” Court said. “And then we’ll have to deal with it, one way or another.”

He said the borough would try to impose the ban through the union contract.