National Workrights Institute

The National Workrights Institute was founded in January 2000 by Lewis Maltby, formerly head of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Taskforce on Civil Liberties in the Workplace. Maltby was known for fighting policies that allow employers to refuse to hire people based on their status as nicotine users, a position he portrayed as "lifestyle discrimination," and that brought him funding from cigarette makers Philip Morris. In 1988, Philip Morris gave ACLU's national office a three year grant for $75,000 per year to support the ACLU's position defending nicotine users from discrimination in employment. Maltby leveraged this financial interest from Philip Morris and the portrayal of smoking as a lifestyle to try and "work more closely" with tobacco companies and solicit additional money from R.J. Reynolds. Maltby was also wary of the use of ID scanners to verify age identification of people purchasing tobacco at retail stores, and conferred with Philip Morris on such laws.

With help from Maltby, Philip Morris undertook a campaign to pass smoker discrimination laws throughout the United States. This remarkably successful campaign produced legislation in 29 states and the District of Columbia before stalling in 1993-1995. Several key states remained without laws protecting smokers, including New York and California.

Sourcewatch resources

 * American Civil Liberties Union
 * Philip Morris
 * Smoker discrimination as a PR strategy

Contact
28 Stone Cliff Road Princeton, NJ 08540 Phone: 609 683 0313 E-Mail: info@workrights.org