Quit Smoking...

arodriguez · October 2002

I found this question on HR Comply website:

We have an employee who is on oxygen and has doctor's orders to quit smoking. The employee misses work quite often due to health reasons, but continues to smoke. Can you make an employee stop smoking if their physician has recommended it?

Just kind of curious as to what everyone's response would be.

A. Rodriguez
Human Resource Manager

Down_the_Middle · October 2002

I know of no way to force someone to stop smoking any more than you can force an obese person to excercise more!!!! Short of requiring that all ee's are smoke free while working at your organization (which some org's choose to do), it's not the kind of thing you can impose on a discretionary basis. The rule has to apply to everyone. Incentives may offer more value than coercion, but the short answer to your question, IMO, is no.

Human Resources Manager · October 2002

I can't begin to imagine how you would go about requiring an employee not to smoke. I don't think you can make a person stop performing a legal activity so long as they don't do it in a restricted area, or on company time.

Theresa Gegen TX · October 2002

You certainly can't force the employee to quit smoking. (By the way, if their health is suffering, the employee probably wants to quit, but smoking is quite addictive).

If your company has an EAP, and if the EAP would provide resouces to help the employee quit smoking, you could certainly refer the employee to those resources.

Good Luck!

arodriguez · October 2002

Just as a quick note... this is NOT an employee of mine. This was a question I found on another website and was curious as to what the reaction would be here.

A. Rodriguez
Human Resource Manager

Quit Smoking...

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