Posted on 01/26/2005 1:13:55 PM PST by Middle-O-Road
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The owner of a Michigan company who forced his employees to either quit smoking or quit their jobs said on Wednesday he also wants to tell fat workers to lose weight or else.
A ban on tobacco use -- whether at home or at the workplace -- led four employees to quit their jobs last week at Okemos, Michigan-based Weyco Inc., which handles insurance claims.
The workers refused to take a mandatory urine test demanded of Weyco's 200 employees by founder and sole owner Howard Weyers, a demand that he said was perfectly legal.
"If you don't want to take the test, you can leave," Weyers told Reuters. "I'm not controlling their lives; they have a choice whether they want to work here."
Next on the firing line: overweight workers.
"We have to work on eating habits and getting people to exercise. But if you're obese, you're (legally) protected," Weyers said.
He has brought in an eating disorder therapist to speak to workers, provided eating coaches, created a point system for employees to earn health-related $100 bonuses and plans to offer $45 vouchers for health club memberships.
The 71-year-old Weyers, who said he has never smoked and pronounced himself in good shape thanks to daily runs, said employees' health as well as saving money on the company's own insurance claims led him to first bar smokers from being hired in 2003.
Last year, he banned smoking during office hours, then demanded smokers pay a monthly $50 "assessment," and finally instituted mandatory testing.
Twenty workers quit the habit.
Weyers tells clients to quit whining about health care costs and to "set some expectations; demand some things."
Job placement specialist John Challenger said Weyco's moves could set a precedent for larger companies -- if it survives potential legal challenges.
"Certainly it raises an interesting boundary issue: rising health care costs and society's aversion to smoking versus privacy and freedom rights of an individual," Challenger said.
So far no legal challenges have been made to Weyco's policies.
I know a lot of employers THINK they own me, but they don't.
I prefer to live my life how I choose regardless of what my employer thinks about it.
Where's all the "Individual rights/Choice groups"?
Next in line are bald people.
I'd just tell him to cancel my health insurance and put the money in my paycheck. Cigarettes are expensive ya know! I'd also tell him his wife was ugly as hell, get fired, collect unemployment while drinking beer and smoking cigs outside his building. That's just me though...
The company has every right to do it and American workers have every right not to work for him. I hope no one would. Gotta feel sorry for someone who has such low self-esteem that he would work for a mini-tyrant like Weyers.
It does cost a small fortune to pay insurance for employees as it is.
Sounds like a case of exasperation by this employer over the costs of health care.
What was this guy's company doing and would who he sells to be offended by people who's clothes always smelled of smoke? I don't get it.
I'm not a smoker, but if I were and I worked for this idiot, I think I'd push it and force him to put his threats into action.
Once he did, I'd sue. It's the only way to put a stop to this kind of nonsense.
"The owner of a Michigan company who forced his employees to either quit smoking or quit their jobs said on Wednesday he also wants to tell fat workers to lose weight or else."
YES!!! That is the sentence I have been wanting to see in all of this!
I agree, but wonder about the legality -- even from a Libertarian's perspective -- of changing the rules for people who've already been hired.
Oh, man, I cannot believe you said it's OK for this guy to do it ...
That's one heck of a slippery slope you're advocating.
I think the guy's a control freak, to be honest.
He wouldn't save that much money by getting his employees to quit smoking. He's assuming that the employees will work for him long term, and based on the evidence at hand, I'd say he's over-optimistic.
I think this is a great example of the free market. Don't work for this guy if you don't like his policies.
And Blacks need not apply either because they live in run down neighborhoods with crime and all that. Discrimination works for all people.
Some people who are overweight can't lose.
What then?
Ditto with smokers.
"Slippery slope?" This is no slippery slope. The guy wants control of his business. Good for him.
>>He has brought in an eating disorder therapist to speak to workers, provided eating coaches, created a point system for employees to earn health-related $100 bonuses.<<
This guy could be on to something. Imagine a job that normally pays, say, $50k a year. He hires you for $35k with a stipulation that if you weigh in every year (at the end of the tax year) within a certain weight range, you will receive a $30k bonus!
Hah, hah. It would be like "mail in rebates." Those that are too lazy to take advantage end up losing out.
The funny thing is that the "average" pay around the office would probably be in line with what every other company pays.
What a great way to "pay" your employees to stay in shape (and statistically, ensure higher productivity).
I like it!
>>This guy isn't an employer, he's a SLAVEMASTER and anyone who works for him is a slave.<<
Psst. ALL employees are slaves. He does seem to be looking out for the health of his though.
>>Next in line are bald people.<<
I doubt it.
Sports fans maybe, though.
What happens if other companies adopt his policies to save money?
About the only choice you'd have left is to start your own business, and might be forced to adopt the same policies yourself due to market pressures.
I'm not of the opinion that a total free for all with no regulation is in our best interests. Sometimes the market drives some pretty poor policy - like southerners engaging in slavery and unable to stop due to economic issues.
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