This chap's asking for a lawsuit larger than he can afford. If MI's laws resemble MO's, this CEO has a MAJOR problem on his hands...or will shortly.
Absolutely false!
You can be fired for engaging in lawful activity in your personal life outside of work hours... whoever told you that lie, doesn't know what they are talking about.
I agree. They should simply be barred from the company's health insurance policy. As long as the company is paying for their health benefits, I'd say they have a right to address an employee's health.
>>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.
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....
A company saying that it doesn't want smokers is the equivalent to saying it doesn't want gay men. The health costs are so much higher for all the various stuff they seem to pick up. The same argument could be made for obese (fat) people.
With luck, the lawsuit will bankrupt the company and send all the folks who betrayed their smoking co-workers to the unemployment lines.
Where would the government get the "legitimate" right to FORCE you, as an employer, to employ people you don't want?
This chap's asking for a lawsuit larger than he can afford. If MI's laws resemble MO's, this CEO has a MAJOR problem on his hands...or will shortly.
Exactlt. Legal product. This guy is screwed. I hope they go for his heuevos.
Absolutely correct.
That can be tricky. Some companies have it in the paperwork where if you continually do activities to cause damage to yourself they can refuse to cover costs and in fact, terminate you.
Old story. When I was in the military (air force) a co-worker (young female) said she was going to the beach. She said she was going to lay out until she looked like a lobster.... Bad move... Our shop chief told her she best not do that because she was government property in the sense that she was on duty 24-7, and when she came back on post she'd better be able to work. Well, when she came back she looked like a COOKED lobster. Had to take time off. And he was true to his word: Gave her a reprimand. She got no (nada, zip, none, zero...) sympathy from anyone in the shop because we had to pull extra hours to make up for her stupidity.
Of course, that was almost 21 (may more - time flies) years ago: Today he would probably be written up and she'd get more time off...
If you signed an "at will" agreement at the time of hire, you will recall that you or your employer can terminate your employment for any reason or no reason. Voluntary violation of a company policy is sufficient to invoke the "at will" termination.