Senior Staff Attorney, Tobacco Law Center and Director, WorkSHIFTS
Senior Staff Attorney, Tobacco Law Center and Director, WorkSHIFTS
Susan Weisman is Senior Staff Attorney at the Tobacco Law Center and Director of WorkSHIFTS, the Center’s labor outreach program. As Senior Staff Attorney, Susan provides Minnesota advocates and communities with technical assistance, program guidance, and strategic consultation in support of the enactment, implementation and enforcement of smoke-free ordinances and statewide legislation.
As Director of WorkSHIFTS, Susan partners with labor union leaders on research and intervention projects that build support for both smoke-free workplace policies and workers’ access to cessation coverage. WorkSHIFTS’ materials, including its nationally recognized toolkit, A Union Guide to Tobacco, are in widespread distribution and use. Susan is a frequent, invited speaker and consultant on labor and tobacco issues at national meetings. She is currently Principal Investigator of a research study, partnering with the MN Laborers, Unite-HERE, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), and researchers from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, to examine the provision and promotion of cessation coverage for workers who receive health care benefits through Taft-Hartley Health and Welfare Funds.
Susan began her career in public interest law at the Minneapolis Legal Aid Society, where she represented deaf and hard of hearing clients with disability-related discrimination claims. Before joining the Tobacco Law Center, Susan worked for over 18 years as an administrative law judge, mediator, and arbitrator for the State of Minnesota’s Office of Administrative Hearings. Her legal expertise encompasses employment, health, human rights, education, and municipal law.
B.A., Ohio State University
J.D., William Mitchell College of Law
