Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke

WRAL.com ^ | 01-25-05 | WestVirginiaRebel

[WestVirginiaRebel]

LANSING, Mich.-Four employees of a health care company have been fired for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes.

Weyco Inc., a health benefits administrator based in Okemos, Mich., adopted a policy Jan. 1 that allows employees to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking happens after business hours at home.

[jjmcgo]

Pretty much negating the assertion that someone "second-hand smokes two packs a day"

[Modernman]

If the Constitution "allows" you to abort a baby becuase of your right to privacy, it should certainly allow you to smoke a legal product on your own time off corporate property. Right?

The Constitution does not protect you from actions by a private party. Your employer can fire you for having an abortion, for example.

[NCPAC]

"It's a private company. There is nothing wrong with this."

I agree completely - and I'm a smoker.

I think any private company should be able to hire/fire anyone of its choosing for any reason it chooses. Again, it is a PRIVATE company.

[k2blader]

A private company should be able to fire or refuse to hire whomever it wants.

From my viewpoint it would make a lot of sense to refuse to hire a person with AIDS. And I recall a case involving the firing of an obese person which also made sense.

Turning the question around: If a private company is *not* allowed to fire whomever it wants, where does it end?

[jjmcgo]

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

[LS]

I hate cigarettes. I've never smoked. I hate being around people who do.

But if you just substitute "drinking" or "unprotected sex" or any of a dozen different vices for "smoking" here, well, you can see where this is heading. It is a very dangerous direction.

Do we really want to have "insurance police" checking to see if you made it to the gym yesterday?

[jpsb]

Fire all the old people too. Better yet, let's just shoot'em that way they can't hire a lawyer.

[Mears]

If AIDS was acquired by risky behaviour that is a "voluntary activity".They are covered by the ADA because of the strong,liberal lobbyists.

Eating too much is a voluntary activity,as is smoking and drinking.If they are "addictive" behaviours they should be covered by the ADA too.

The ADA is a crock----one of the most abused laws ever.

[End Times Sentinel]

I guess my issue is that I work for my employer 40 hours a week.  The rest of the time is mine and I can do anything I want durring that time so long as it doesn't affect or disrupt my workplace.

 

Owl_Eagle

"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in.  I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"

-Hillary Clinton

(Yes, she really said that

Peggy Noonan

The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg 55)

[Grampa Dave]

I prefer a little of Emerald's Essence, with Kosher Salt and fresh ground pepper on the legs while sauteeing them in a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Of course you add the seasonings to flour, dip the frog legs in buttermilk first, and then in the seasoned flour and then into the cast iron skillet.

[k2blader]

That is extreme. In which case, if I was a smoker and didn't want to give it up, I would leave the company.

Employees can't expect their places of employment to be democracies. Well, unless they're liberals.

[staytrue]

It is a somewhat free country. This company is entitled to fire all smokers or hire only smokers or anything in between.

I will say, a more fair solution would be to require the smokers to pay a higher health premium instead or to pay them less for whatever the smoking costs the employer.

[k2blader]

I agree completely - and I'm a smoker.

I knew there had to be folks like you out there! :-)

[Raycpa]

Would someone who lived with a smoker test positive ?

[Tamar1973]

Do you really believe anyone's healthcare costs are going to go down?

I believe it was a major factor in their decision to get those folks off the payrolls. Companies, as you know, pay a portion of their employee's health care premium. If you can say honestly, with a straight face, there are no smokers in your shop, the monthly healthcare premiums for that particular company would go down.

[Mears]

I agree with you-a private company should be able to hire and fire anyone they want to,but,sadly,that isn't the case right now. Lawsuits,lawsuits,lawsuits for all sorts of so called "discriminatory" firings.

Can you imagine the outcry if a company only wanted to hire whites or fired all women because they wanted all men?

Because of many anti-discrimination laws these things aren't allowed but smokers have become the politically correct target.

[twigs]

True, but where does it end? When will employers start asking to see someone's private medical records to determine employability? I believe that private business is private, but then this private business is jumping over into a private individual's rights.

[Dat Mon]

"That "someone" has the right, as owner and money maker of said company, to set rules, regulations and policy for the employees he/she hires."

You're right, they do have that right. The key here is whether they made their smoking policy a condition for employment BEFORE they hired these individuals. If I take a job knowing the conditions for employment, and misrepresent myself, I can and should be fired after the fact.

If the employer, on the other hand, changes the rules for me after hiring me, the onus is on the employer to show that the change is for a reasonable cause.

For example, I hire you for a top position. You move your wife and kids at your expense, change schools, etc, buy a new house. After you settle in, I announce to you that as a condition for your further employment, you must provide your wife to me as a mistress two nights a week. Assume that this is in a state where sex is not illegal between unmarried adults. It sounds ridiculous, but the same rule making principles you state would apply, wouldn't they?

I am using my power as an employer over you to make you change your beliefs or lifestyle, after the fact of hiring you.

[Rutles4Ever]

Yeah, I've got an idea. What if we took only blonde-haired, blue-eyed healthy males --

oh - wait - that was already tried.