Is it legal for employers to force employees to stop smoking by threatening to fire them?

I work at an eye doctor’s office in Kansas in a town that hasn’t yet banned smoking in public or anything of that sort. We have just one smoker in our office who takes her regular 10 min smoke breaks twice a day (without abusing them), who has been doing this for her 7 years of employment. The office manager recently took her into her office with our head doctor and basicaly told her she needed to quit smoking the reason being her coughing fits. (Which is a combo between smoking and her severe allergies, and which do not happen but maybe once or twice a week for maybe 2-3 minutes.) They then tried to get her to sign a document saying she had to quit and “try to control her out-of-control coughing”, which she refused. Then the next day took her back with a second doctor and tried again to get her to sign the document.
Do employers have a legal right to change employee’s habits? I could not find any info pertaining to such circumstances, and would appreciate any help.

I think they do. It’s not discrimination, in my opinion.

Coughing fits and smoking is gross as hell and to work in a doctor’s office….eww. That’s enough to make me choose another doctor’s office. And I’m sure the doctors are thinking the same thing. It’s just disgusting. Patients don’t want to hear that while sitting in the waiting room.

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