Would you care to post a link to these statistics.
I don't want to call you a liar but I think you're either mistaken or someone has fed you a line of anti-ism.
Studies that I have seen actually point to the fact that smokers take no more sick days, take no more time off, and have no more 'diseases' than nonsmokers, at least until later in life.
I guess I should have put "statistics" in quotes or ended in a /sarcasm off. All the PC crapp is based on "statistics." Nobody has fed me a line. I smoke. I try to be courteous with my smoking, realizing everyone doesn't. However, going out in public, and hiring the public, means you deal with the public. Some of them smoke. If you don't want to deal with that, stay home or hire drones.