Shimp v. New Jersey Bell Telephone Company - Impact

Shimp v. New Jersey Bell Telephone Company recognized the harm done to workers exposed to ETS and established the common law right of employees to be protected from this substance while on the job. Since then, workers have also sought damages against employers through a variety of means. In addition, states and municipalities as well as private employers are increasingly taking action to protect workers from this type of pollution and to protect themselves from possible liability. Though no federal legislation as of the late 1990s banned ETS in private workplaces, federal recommendations strongly urged employers to ban on-the-job smoking, and ETS had been prohibited in federal workplaces. Shimp, therefore, set an important precedent for employees' rights to be protected from secondhand smoke.