Posted on 01/24/2005 12:38:46 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
Weyco fires 4 employees for refusing smoking test
1/24/2005, 2:50 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Four employees of Okemos-based health benefits administrator Weyco Inc. have been fired for refusing to take a test that would determine whether they smoke cigarettes.
The company instituted a policy on Jan. 1 that makes it a firing offense to smoke — even if done after business hours or at home, the Lansing State Journal reported Monday.
Weyco founder Howard Weyers said previously that he instituted the tough anti-smoking rule to shield his company from high health care costs.
"I don't want to pay for the results of smoking," he said.
The anti-smoking rule led one employee to quit work before the policy went into place. Since Jan. 1, four more people were shown the door when they balked at the anti-smoking test.
"They were terminated at that point," said Chief Financial Officer Gary Climes.
Even so, Weyco said, the policy has been successful. Climes estimated that about 18 to 20 of the company's 200 employers were smokers when the policy was announced in 2003.
Of those, as many as 14 quit smoking before the policy went into place. Weyco offered them smoking cessation help, Climes said.
"That is absolutely a victory," Climes said.
That is a myth that is being challenged regularly.
I smoked for years and quit of my own volition.
If this company wants to avoid medical costs for employees who smoke they should write a policy that excludes coverage for emphysema, et al.
But what are they going to do when one of their employees who quit smoking because of their scare tactics, then retires THEN becomes ill with a smoke related disease?
Better get some Clinton mouthpieces on retainer!
>>Actually, whether public or private, no company has any legitimate power to control the lawful activities of any employee off-site and off company time.<<
You're right. Now, if the employee can just find a way to purge the effects of the tobacco from their system before work every day...
A better solution, in my book, would be to just not offer health benefits to smoking employees, or offer the "expensive" plan.
>>I don't think I would want to want to work for such a company. But I agree that they can do whatever they want to do.<<
Boy, I would! No more smoke wafting in from the open doors by the smoking areas.
Very bad policy but I think they have the right to have such a policy. Just as I believe a company or organization can exclude gays, non-Christians, or Christians.
Not if it's like the deal I have with my employer. So long as neither the employee nor covered spouse or any dependants smoke, health insurance on a family plan is paid for. If I choose to smoke, it's up to me to find my insurer and pay their rate. It's not fair to other employees who abide by the rules to have to absorb the additional claims born by smokers - and certainly not fair to my employer....
An excellent point.
It's a short jump from telling you that you can't do something deemed unhealthy to telling you that you HAVE to do certain things that are healthy.
Like walk 2 miles a day etc.
many questions, do covered dependents have to be screened for smoking? how long do you have to be quit for it to be out of the system? is it like say pot, that household products will make urine and mouth swab tests negative? and what if i smoked four packs a day for thirty years, quit and went to work for them?
and don't fat people have more illnesses and lost days at work?
are health insurance rates significantly lower for nonsmokers?
Greasey fingers and Mickey D's bags in the trash can?......along with a 45" Waist line?.......
climes declares a victory! A victory for whom? The Sanctimonious smoking Nannies...
Wait untill the CEO determines his employees eating of junk food is costing him money in healthcare costs.
>> LOL, Do you work in a hut????<<
No, as a contractor, I worked for several companies in the last five years. In every case, the smoke would inevitably blow through open doors into the building. In one case, I was on the forth floor and when the wind blew just right, everyong was commenting on the stench of the smokers coming into our areas.
It' is remarkably common. It is why many buildings do not allow smoking within 50 feet of the building.
I wonder if this company offers same sex partner benefits?
That will be next. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph's policy was to screen potential employee's by weight. Some employees, as a condition of employment, had to lose x number of pounds by a certain date. Fail the weigh in meant immediate dismissal. If your made the weigh in by that date, you could weigh as much as you wanted from then on. I know...it happened to me. I made the weigh in.
Weyco is a benefits management company. Michigan State University uses their services to manage the Health Care Spending Accounts (among other things)
http://www.weyco.com/web/
I'm also a contractor and as such I have to live with whatever I have to live with. I smoke and live with the rules that apply. I guess that proves that I can quit any time I want. LOL
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