Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke
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[url]http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/4125477/detail.html[/url]
"Michigan firm won't allow smoking even on employees own time".
Now I just quit smoking 2 weeks ago and I don't want anyone to smoke, but it just doesn't seem that this should be legal. Does anyone think this is a good thing?
"Michigan firm won't allow smoking even on employees own time".
Now I just quit smoking 2 weeks ago and I don't want anyone to smoke, but it just doesn't seem that this should be legal. Does anyone think this is a good thing?
Comments
Of course if we don't want to hire a smoker, we can always find a nondiscriminatory reason not to.
I find it odd that the reason cited for this ban & further really, testing for nicotine in the body, is due to rising health care costs. This is odd to me because there are so many poor behaviors folks have that it seems unreasonable to single out this one vice. Poor eating habits, high cholesterol, obesity, not getting an annual exam, type A personalities, bad relationships, grabbing a drink after work or worse, drinking a lot after work all contribute to higher costs for medical insurance - not just smoking. Last summer was a really bad time for our company; we lost a long-term employee to prostate cancer. It was really tough. The guy didn't smoke, drank only occasionally, but he was an ornery, sourpuss (God bless his soul) with some cancer in his family history. When he was diagnosed, 2 1/2 years ago, it wasn't because he went in for an annual exam, it was because he thought he was having a recurring bout of carpel tunnel, was trying to reopen his claim & due to some symptoms he was describing, his doc took some blood work on a "well, let's just check it out basis". I don't really mind a company taking a stand on smoking and if the ee really wants to work there, then they either follow the rules or not, be tested or not, but I really don't like the next logical steps that this kind of thinking leads to: To avoid higher medical costs, we will no longer employ obese people. Obesity is defined as anyone 10 pounds over their ideal weight as classified by the federal government. Or, To avoid higher medical costs, we will no longer employ anyone with a family history of mental disease, heart disease or cancer. :-S
My older brother tried to get cute about 3 years ago while he was still on the off-and-on-I'm-trying-to-quit-phase and he "misrepresented" (read lied) the facts on a life insurance application. Needless to say he was summarily moved from best rates category to lard a** nicotine addict category.
In any case, I'm now going crazy trying to remember who recorded this song. HELP!!!!
"Now I'm a fella with a heart of gold,
the ways of a gentleman, I been told -
The kind of guy who wouldn't even harm a flea.
But if me and a certain character met,
(the guy who invented the cigarette)
I'd murder that son of a gun in the first degree."
chorus -
Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette.
puff, puff, puff and if you smoke yourself to death,
Tell St. Peter at the golden gate that you hate to make him wait. But you just gotta have another cigarette.