Grusendorf v. City of Oklahoma City - Impact

The court's decision was important in defining the scope of rules which employers may impose on their employees. Certainly, both public and private employers are free to impose a wide range of rules relating to an employee's conduct in the workplace. The Grusendorf decision, however, also cleared the way for at least public employers to impose restrictions on an employee's conduct outside of work, so long as those restrictions are related to the employee's job. Also, the decision was part of a larger debate throughout the 1980s and intensifying in the 1990s concerning the rights of smokers.