Casino Workers Sue New Jersey Over Smoking Ban Exemption

Atlantic City casino workers gathered at the state capitol as labor to announce they are taking their efforts to ban smoking in casinos to the courts, with attorney Nancy Smith (center) leading the charge. (Image: CEASE New Jersey/Facebook)

Casino workers in Atlantic City are suing the state of New Jersey, saying their rights are being violated having to work in a place where indoor smoking is allowed. 

Their lawsuit, filed Friday in State Superior Court in Mercer County, comes after repeated legislative efforts to ban smoking in New Jersey casinos in recent years have either stalled or failed. 

“We’re taking the fight out of the backroom and into the courtroom,” labor attorney Nancy Erika Smith said to a cheering crowd of about 100 people who had gathered at the courthouse in Trenton. 

Organized Lawfare

Smith filed the lawsuit on behalf of the United Auto Workers union, which represents workers at Bally’s, Caesars and Tropicana casinos, and CEASE New Jersey, a grassroots organization with more than 3,000 members who work at various casinos in Atlantic City. 

CEASE – Casino Employees Against Smoking’s (Harmful) Effects – organized buses for their members to travel from Atlantic City to Trenton for the announcement of the lawsuit. 

The suit names Gov. Philip Murphy and acting state health commissioner Kaitlin Baston as defendants.

The plaintiffs claim that a casino exception to the state’s Smoke-Free Air Act, passed in 2006, is illegal because it gives special treatment to casino owners by allowing them to let people smoke in their facilities, while also disregarding the health of their employees. 

“Legally our rights are being violated and people are being hurt and getting sick,” CEASE co-founder and Borgata dealer Nicole Vitola told Casinos.com.

The UAW and CEASE are arguing that the court should invalidate casino exemption from the statewide ban on indoor smoking.

Their lawsuit seeks injunctive relief that could have a court decide rather quickly that smoking is not allowed in gaming establishments while the matter is being adjudicated. 

“Once the judge rules in our favor, there will be no more smoking in casinos in New Jersey,” fellow CEASE leader and Borgata dealer Pete Naccarelli told Casinos.com. “This is the closest we’ve ever been and people are fired up about it.”

Movement Ready to Spread

Naccarelli is optimistic that CEASE and the UAW will be successful in court, with implications for casino employees beyond Atlantic City.

“Once this lawsuit works, and we are fully confident it will,” Naccarelli said, “it’s going to permeate across the country. It will set a legal precedent that states can’t violate constitutional rights like they are doing here in New Jersey.”

There have been legislative efforts to remove similar smoking ban exemptions in Pennsylvania, Vitginia, Rhode Island and Kansas. But as has been the case in New Jersey, opposition from casino interests has derailed legislation before it could get to a floor vote. 

In 2022, a bill to close New Jersey’s legal loophole looked promising but was eventually tabled. And in 2023, a new version was moving forward, but ultimately stalled as input from casino operators began turning it into something unpalatable for casino workers. 

Seven UAW members showed their displeasure by lighting up cigarettes in a committee session, where smoking is of course banned. 

Naccarelli echoed what Smith had explained to her new clients. 

“It’s like Nancy said, the statehouse is where backroom deals are made and campaign money changes hands. The courts are where the judge rules in favor of right or wrong. We know we’re in the right, and we expect a judge to rule that way.”