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Company sued for keeping smokers inside Workers claim their health has suffered By CHRIS BRISTOL One of the Rogue Valley's biggest companies has been sued by two employees who claim they've been subjected to secondhand smoke from co-workers who aren't allowed outside to light up. Sterling Business Forms, a Medford-based commercial printer that serves office supply companies and distributors in 10 western states, was named as defendant in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Jackson County Court. Company president Mike Jackson was personally named as a co-defendant. The plaintiffs, press operators Mike Blackwell and John Lockman, contend the company has policies that allow employees to smoke cigarettes inside the company's White City printing shop and does not allow them to leave the plant so they can smoke outside. According to the complaint, the policy "caused harmful and offensive contact ... consisting of the forced inhalation of cancer-causing agents, better known as secondhand smoke." Blackwell and Lockman seek $5,000 in medical expenses and $50,000 each for pain and suffering, arguing battery and intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress. They also seek $10,000 each for alleged retaliation, claiming they complained about the problem last year and were subsequently treated with "contempt and ridicule." In addition, they want an injunction prohibiting the indoor-smoking policy, and they want enforcement of state labor laws that regulate breaks. The lawsuit alleges employees aren't given the 30-minute meal and two 10-minute coffee breaks per eight-hour shift as required by law. A company spokeswoman Tuesday was unaware of the lawsuit until a reporter's query. She declined to comment about the allegations or provide background on the company's operations until she spoke to an attorney. According to published accounts, Sterling Business Forms was founded in the Rogue Valley and has plants in Medford and White City as well as Sacramento and San Diego, Calif., and Spokane, Wash. The company reportedly employees about 300 people, including 50 at the White City plant and 75 in Medford. In a phone interview Tuesday night, Blackwell said the White City plant prints around the clock. Management doesn't want employees to go outside to smoke because of the disruption caused if press machines and other equipment had to be shut down, he said. "They want the presses to go all the time," he said. He said that even though the company provides employees who smoke with so-called smokeless ashtrays, it's not enough and his health has suffered over the 13 years he's worked for the company. "When you feel better physically on the weekends than you do during the week, after awhile you know what the problem is," he said. "I always feel best on Sunday and Monday morning. "It's an issue that has to be resolved, and they don't want to resolve it," he added. Under the state Indoor Clean Air Act of 1981, tobacco smoke is considered a health hazard in confined places. With some exceptions, such as bars and taverns, the law generally bans smoking in most indoor places open to the public. Blackwell said the White City plant is not generally open to the public. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA