Senate committee rejects bill allowing employers to discriminate against smokers
by Jeff Adelson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

Baton Rouge -- Legislative labor committees shot down an effort to allow companies to discriminate against employees who smoke but gave approval to a bill expanding whistleblower protections Thursday. Senate Bill 113 would have repealed a two-decade-old law prohibiting companies from taking into account tobacco use when hiring, firing, promoting or considering any other employment action. Sen. Fred Mills, R-New Iberia, told the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee he filed the bill because of the increased costs that smokers incur to companies in terms of health benefits and other considerations. Eliminating protections for smokers would bring Louisiana in line with 21 other states, Mills said.