Posted on 03/29/2010 12:15:00 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA
It’s not as if it’s a great hospital, anyway. My dad was there last year, and the nurses were missing in action for absolutely everything.
Imagine a world where you can hire who you want. If you choose not to hire someone because of their race, their eye color, their church preference - whatever - it is your business and you are free to do that.
I am free to either support your business, or not support your business. I am free to open a competitor business that may hire the people you reject. At some point, you will pass over good candidates that I am free to hire. At some point, your business will not be able to compete with mine because I have a bigger pool of people to hire from.
That is my understanding of what Jedidah is saying. Correct me if I am wrong.
Yes it’s healthier to be a thin smoker than an obese non-smoker. But notice it’s mostly fatasses that push for bans like these.
You are exactly right, Learns. Thank you for saying it better than I did.
Yes, Red, I think I should be able to refuse to hire any racial minority I choose to avoid. I would be a fool, a bigoted fool, to do so. But in a truly free society, that should be my choice.
It would also, I should hope, be the choice of good Americans to shun my business in favor of one with better business sense.
Nahanni, my argument has nothing to do with the health impact of smoking, good or bad.
I’ve had tobacco users, both smoke and smoke-free, in my family. Sadly, one ruined her lungs with cigarettes. Others lived to old age. Again, that is not the issue.
Americans should be able to choose their habits, and American companies should be able to decide whether the risk of negative impact is greater than the positives the employee offers.
I find the marketing concept of Hooters offensive. I will not eat there. However, I would also condemn any attempt to make the restaurant chain hire ugly hairy flat-chested women or skinny old men in tank tops.
The government needs to get out of our business and let consumers drive a true market economy. I don’t like government interference, but I have no problem whatsoever with consumer boycotts.
They are already trying for a soda tax. Now if they are serious they can REMOVE junk food from food stamps! They go out by the shopping cart load, instead of nutritious foods.
It’s an employers option to do this. Just like the new york yankees boss doesn’t like his players having beards, so none of them do. All smoking does is eventually cause more health problems which than pushes up the costs of health care plans for everyone else
Downhill skiing is a dangerous sport, statistically speaking, as is skydiving.
Driving on certain highways is very dangerous to one’s health.
You are arguing that the compnay has the right to come into your home and tell you how to live.
Where does this nonsense end?
I would not have a big problem with this if they also refused to hire sodomites, who also have huge medical costs and whose activity makes them more susceptible to diseases that can be spread to patients.
I would certainly support banning smoke breaks and not allowing anyone with contact with patients to have the smell of smoke on their bodies or clothing while at work. But banning employees from engaging in a legal (though stupid) activity, like smoking, outside the work place, is unfair.
If smoking (or sodomy for that matter) makes certain employees bad workers, then fire those individuals, but it is wrong to punish those who don’t let it affect their job performance.
Of course the market should take care if this issue. A hospital that will not hire smokers will be forced to draw from a smaller pool of potential employees which will likely increase labor costs.
If strokes and heart disease are the real issues, why doesn’t St. Luke’s simply ban stress? That would solve all of the world’s problems. Who knew this was so easy? Give me a bonus and a pat on the back.
St. Cloud's ban on hiring employees who use tobacco, which was enacted in 2002, has been revoked by the City Council.
'Number one, it never did do what it was supposed to do -- help on insurance,' City Manager Tom Hurt said. 'And, it put a cramp on hiring.'
With more jobs to fill as the city grows, there was a shrinking pool of workers to fill the jobs. Osceola's unemployment rate for the 12 months ending in April was 2.6 percent, substantially lower than the national average of 4.5 percent. 'We had certified operators that wanted to work for us, and then they found out they had to be a nonsmoker for a year,' said Robert MacKichan, public works director.
His department employees about 100 workers and has 12 to 15 vacancies, he said. At one point the city loosened its policy by agreeing to hire smokers if they promised to stop. 'No one wants to take a job on the pretense they will be able to stop, not knowing if they will. In a year, if they're not smoke-free, they're [fired].'"
St. Cloud (Florida) Rescinds Smoker-Free Hiring Policy Due to Lack of Qualified Police Officers
If the govt had this same policy, obama could never have been president. (maybe it’s a good thing after all)
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