Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke

[SouthCaliDiva]

Fascism or just a business-owner doing his thang?

Lots of voluntary activities can increase healthcare costs. I wonder why they decided to zero in on this particular one.
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http://www.wral.com/news/4126577/detail.html


Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time

UPDATED: 1:59 PM EST January 25, 2005

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 or at home.

Company founder Howard Weyers has said the anti-smoking rule was designed to shield the firm from high health care costs. "I don't want to pay for the results of smoking," he said.

The rule led one employee to quit before the policy was adopted. Four others were fired when they balked at the smoking test.

Chief Financial Officer Gary Climes estimated that 18 to 20 of the company's 200 employers were smokers when the policy was announced in 2003. Of those, as many as 14 quit smoking before the policy went into effect. The company offered them help to kick the habit.

"That is absolutely a victory," Climes said.

On the company's Web site, it states:

Weyco Inc. is a non-smoking company that strongly supports its employees in living healthy lifestyles.


Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[mystkev]

Is that legal?

What exactly does this test to determine if someone smokes entail?

My mother smokes. I don't live with her anymore, but I am sure that there may be some effects of smoking present in my body due to the second-hand smoke. I'd be pissed about being fired for something that I don't even do.

On that note, what about people whose spouse smokes? Their health is at risk as well.

[SouthCaliDiva]

Wow, that's a good question! What if they give the test when I just got back from Vegas or something? Hmmm.

[Andre98]

I'm sure, just like the way you can get a contact high and look like you are a weed smoker, the tests can determine if you were just in the company of smokers or smoking yourself. There's a test of hair folicles that is very exacting on drugs and all.

Its easy to say yes, this is a good idea, but if smoking is not illegal, it is an infringement on a person's private life. Theoretically, if they then want to gauge how much you drink, feeling as though alcohol is as unhealthy as smoking, they can just pop another policy out their ass. How about fat fucks like me? Obesity is a health issue, let's squeeze all the fatties out of the job marketplace. If it catches on, it doesnt have to end there. How about the health impact of HIV/Aids. If you can be pinned down as a member of a high risk group, which includes by statistics, African American women as well as gay men of all races, sorry, but you are far more likely to catch a dose so we can't chance it.

If you are a smoker, and can stand to hold off until your own time ( this would include no multiple smoking breaks while loitering outside the job entrances) it's no body's business whatr you do after work, as long as it's not illegal. And like Myst said, if your spouse smokes, you getting constant second hand, or even more directly, that fact that they might also be on your health plan.... it can extend pretty far into your personal life, once the precedents get established.