Where Nobody May Smoke
Lab. Code 6404.5 — no smoking in an enclosed place of employment, by employer or anyone else
California's rule is written for the workplace. The Legislature's stated intent is to prohibit the smoking of tobacco products in all (100 percent of) enclosed places of employment in the state, as one statewide standard.
The prohibition. An employer, or the owner-operator of a business with no other workers, does not knowingly or intentionally permit, and no person engages in, the smoking of tobacco products at a place of employment or in an enclosed space. Enclosed space includes covered parking lots, lobbies, lounges, waiting areas, elevators, stairwells and restrooms that are a structural part of the building.
The signs. An employer who lets the public in regularly has taken reasonable steps where it has posted clear and prominent signs, including a No smoking sign at each entrance where smoking is prohibited throughout the building.
The section's own list of places that are not treated as places of employment is long and is not reproduced here. Cannabis smoking, local ordinances that go further, rules in rental leases, and how a complaint is made and enforced are outside this page. Whether a particular place falls inside an exception is a question for a licensed California attorney or the agency that enforces the law.
Sources for this section (1)
- Lab. Code 6404.5 — Smoking in enclosed places of employment prohibited
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed California attorney.