In the past three months, four states [Florida, New Mexico, South Dakota and Minnesota] have put in place no vaping laws for most indoor workplaces. Wisconsin may become the fifth, with a bill introduced last month that seeks to expand its no workplace smoking ban to include vaping and e-cigarettes. Thus far, 17 states have general workplace bans on vaping and e-cigarettes, including our neighbors D.C. and Delaware. Maryland presently does not have such a ban. The other states with such a ban are Alaska, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont.
Employers who are in states that ban vaping and e-cigarettes need to be sure to post updating no-smoking signs that include vape and e-cigarette warnings, as well as train employees on the additional prohibited activities.
Many of these state law bans are prompted by the ongoing campaign and lobbying efforts by certain groups concerned with teenage vaping. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in a November 2018 article that among high school students, e-cigarette use increased from 1.5% in 2011 to 20.8% in 2018, with half of that growth occurring in 2017 and 2018.