Well, I am afraid that is next. The Surgeon General said that Obesity is passing smoking as the number one killer.
Posted on 05/14/2005 8:42:05 AM PDT by SheLion
Firing Smokers - Reading Beyond the Headlines
Trend: You smoke? You're fired!
May 11, 2005
By Stephanie Armour
More companies are taking action against employees who smoke off-duty, and, in an extreme trend that some call troubling, some are now firing or banning the hiring of workers who light up even on their own time.
The outright bans raise new questions about how far companies can go in regulating workers' behavior when they are off the clock. The crackdown is coming in part as a way to curb soaring health care costs, but critics say companies are violating workers' privacy rights. The zero-tolerance policies are coming as more companies adopt smoke-free workplaces.
•Weyco, a medical benefits provider based in Okemos, Mich., this year banned employees from smoking on their own time. Employees must submit to random tests that detect if someone has smoked. They must also agree to searches of briefcases, purses or other belongings if company officials suspect tobacco or other banned substances have been brought on-site. Those who smoke may be suspended or fired.
About 20 employees have quit smoking under the policy, and a handful were fired after they opted out of the testing. "The main goal is to elevate the health status of our employees," says Gary Climes, chief financial officer.
•At Investors Property Management in Seattle, smokers are not hired. Employees who smoked before the ban was passed about two years ago are not fired; however, they can't get medical insurance through the company.
•Alaska Airlines has a no-smoking policy for employees, and new hires must submit to a urine test to prove they're tobacco-free.
"The debate has gone from where they can smoke to whether they can smoke," says Marshall Tanick, a Minneapolis-based employment lawyer.
Such bans are not legal everywhere: More than 20 states have passed laws that bar companies from discriminating against workers for lifestyle decisions.
There are other ways that companies are taking action against off-duty smoking, such as raising health care premiums for smokers.
Employers say it's about creating a healthy workforce. But it's also a bottom-line issue: Tobacco causes more than 440,000 deaths annually and results in more than $75 billion in direct medical costs a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some smokers' rights groups are vowing legal action.
"These matters will be decided in the courts," says Redmond, Wash.-based Norman Kjono, with Forces, a smokers' rights group. "You're creating a class of unemployable citizens. It won't stand."
And legal experts fear companies will try to control other aspects of employees' off-duty lifestyle, a trend that is already happening. Some companies are firing, suspending or charging higher insurance premiums to workers who are overweight, have high cholesterol or participate in risky activities.
Good post. Some masters are better than others, but a slave is still a slave.
Interestingly enough, this is from their privacy policy:
As part of the Seneca Nation of Indians and the Iroquois Confederacy, OrderSmokesDirect is currently not required to collect state sales tax for products sold on Native land. Nonetheless, we are required under federal law to report all sales and shipments of cigarettes to the state taxing authority within your home state. You should contact the taxing authority within your state to determine your tax obligation on the use of these products within your state.
You will get no arguement from me over your concerns - I agree with you.
If "smokers are not hired" then what is the difference with "blacks are not hired", "queers are not hired", "disabled are not hired" or "Jews or Catholics are not hired"? I see none.
Thanks---I will check them out---I'm just getting around to this lengthy thread.
The beat goes on,doesn't it?
bump
One last bump and I'm calling it a night...........NIGHT!!!!
How did you get perverts out of addicts? Inquiring minds want to know.
LOL! Johnson should have lit a match...
This thread alone has enough good posts to make the anti-smoking taliban wish they had panties on their heads instead.
On second thought, you are so right!
I sure hear that! If I did drink, it would make it easier for me to get suspended! Can you imagine if I got tipsy what all I would write in here? Some people would think I was a trucker. LOL!
No offense to the truckers, but we all know they are 'down to earth people' who use colorful language. hehe!
They are also working hard to ban guns by way of the assault weapons. Where will it stop? Why are American's losing their Freedom of Choice? We are losing it slowly but surely.
Soon it will be illegal to sell fast food and junk food to anyone under 18...and when they make 21 the legal smoking age, they will make 21 the legal junk/fast food age. And soon fast food outlets will have signs that say "THE VERICHIP IS THE ONLY VALID ID ACCEPTED HERE."
And that's the day THEY won't be getting any more of my money. No damn chip for me!
He said that he has a kit to check urine randomly of his employers that said they quit smoking. They have to undergo this testing at random. And he also checks brief cases and ladies purses to see if they are sneaking in cigarettes. I just can't wrap my brain around this.
Where does it end? Like I said: pretty soon, no one will be fit to be hired.
On and on. I watch Fox News every day. They were hitting smokers and smoking really hard this past week. It was getting so bad I almost turned them off.
Now they say that there is a vaccine coming for smokers that will help us quit. Has it ever occurred to any of these idiots that a lot of us do not WANT to quit smoking???
The news this week was really trying to shame the smokers................again.
Well, I am afraid that is next. The Surgeon General said that Obesity is passing smoking as the number one killer.
You don't have customers you depend on for a job?
Beyond that, how would you react if "they" decided not to sell you gasoline because you drove the wrong kind of car? Or allow you to board public transportation because you eat meat? Or go to a restaurant because of something else you do on your own time? Even the most extreme libertarian should be able to see the problems with those with power dictating lifestyles to those without power, reagardless of whether the government or the private sector is the source of the power. It wasn't goveernment that bought and sold slaves.
LOL!!!!!
You won't find me on these threads if I have been drinking - nor if I am cranky from lack of sleep.
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