Comment Re:Easy answer (Score 1) 1199
It does MOST DEFINITELY run afoul of anti-discrimination law.
But it's quite easy to make a convincing argument that the practice of smoking is detrimental to their job performance, even if the the supposition is completely invalid, it just has to sway the opinion of a judge to allow it, and then be defensible enough to survive appeal.
The problem becomes ultimately that it's impossible to convince people by and large that a practice is discriminatory if it doesn't affect them or anyone they can relate to in a way that is apparent to them. So discrimination against smokers will never be equated by most people with a similar practice against people who eat slim jims or who drink nothing but soda or those who simple refuse to eat green vegetables, when they are in fact equivalent practices both logically and under the law.