After reading the very helpful replies from this forum I have decided to rewire the (new) wall box I installed in such a way that the outlet side will merely continue the kitchen counter circuit (which is protected by an "upstream" GFCI) & the switch (which shares the same double box) will merely tie into the original disposer line (on it's own breaker) & have no connection whatever to the counter circuit. (This will also free up space in the box & allow me to easily wire the ground to the disposer switch)
I had (evidently erroneously) thought that running the disposer ( since it obviously contacts water) off of a GFI protected circuit was a safer way to go...... I still don't understand why it is evidently safer to not have the disposer ( & thus it's new above counter switch) protected by a GFI, but I guess it isn't.
Anyway, thanks for setting me straight!

"Chris Lewis" wrote in message ...
According to Dick :
My question is this: The switch is a normal single pole switch with a
ground.......Do I need to connect the switch's ground terminal to a ground
in order for it (the switch & the disposer) to be protected by the GFCI?
(the outlet that it is connected to is properly grounded) There are so many
wires crammed into the box that I'm just trying to save myself some
work....If it will still be safe.

[You're already paying attention to the comments about grounding/box fill. Good.]

Two things:

1) Sharing a kitchen counter outlet circuit with a disposer is almost certainly
a code violation. Counter outlet circuits are supposed to be dedicated. While
you can pay attention to your loading when you use it, that's not going to be
particularly fool-proof, especially when and if someone else is in the kitchen.
I recommend a separate GFCI'd circuit.

2) GFCI's do not require a ground to operate. But it should be grounded
anyway - worst case scenario, the GFCI stops working properly, and a fault
occurs in the disposer. Depending on the circumstances, that could
make your sink or plumbing live & unprotected, or even a tingle if you
touch the counter. If you run into box fill problems, install a bigger
box.

[Note: I do not believe that disposers have a GFCI code requirement,
and GFCI is a permissible substitute when you don't have ground. But if you
have a feasibly useable ground, you should use it. An inspector would likely
insist. If you run into box fill problems with a ground, you're probably
already over the limit without the ground. Here, we don't really factor
in the ground wires into box fill (except for the wire nuts), because they're
much smaller and can be routed so that they take virtually zero space.]
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.