businessshrink.biz — A growing trend with employers is to not hire smokers or employees with unhealthy lifestyles. Some companies are now charging $50 per paycheck if employees smoke. Some companies don't assess fines, they just simply fire the smoker or obese employee. So far the courts are ruling in favor of companies. Employees are trying to fight back.
Sep 27, 2007 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountSep 29, 2007
smokers should be a protected group if it wasnt for tobacco being the cash crop of jamestown the united states wouldnt exist.
katherynneSep 29, 2007
" Because the medical bills for cancer, and various cancer treatments seriously outweigh that of any problem that alcohol can cause"Clearly you haven't spent much time in a transplant ICU with the liver failure patients.
jpowell180Sep 30, 2007
Companies who wish to terminate Employees who smoke or are overweight due to "insurance puposes" shouldn't terminate them unless they are actually causing a drain on the employer's portion of the insurance for that particular individual.If the Employer thinks the Employee is a high risk, and they're concerned about the insurance, they should at least first excercise the option of cancelling the insurance, which employees should not be mandated to offer in the first place!If an employee has been doing a good job, but is fat or a smoker, the company should have the right to cancel the insurance but certainly shouldn't fire them.
jerimOct 1, 2007
Incentives have been proven to work every time they are tried. What does an extra hour at lunch cost a company versus the insurance fees and lost productivity from health related issues? If the cost of insurance is so huge, you just take a percentage of that and put it toward prevention. Any successful business man is going to realize that your cost/benefit ratio is pretty good with incentives. Firing employees is very handed and it demoralizes staff. I have been there, it isn't pretty when a company is purging its staff, for whatever reason. No, incentives won't work for everyone, and you might have to fire some people. But the "shoot first, ask questions later" approach doesn't work.
ericdownerOct 9, 2007
Wow, nice response. Is that all you could come up with you weak bitch?
Closed AccountNov 1, 2007
Wrong. Smokers in America do not pay more for health insurance when they are on a corporate medical plan working for a company that offers benefits. But their health problems raise the overall group rates as a whole. That's the problem.
pekuliorMay 3, 2008
I work for a place that doesn't provide health care benefits and I'm a smoker. Does this mean I should be fired even though that I continually get my work done on time and most of the time quicker than the rest of the employees who don't smoke? Firing someone because of their life choices is discrimination. Would firing a woman who is pregnant because she's going to cost the company money from giving birth and missing time from work be OK? NO! Would firing a person who happens to be gay because they may have a higher chance at getting HIV OK? NO! Would firing someone who likes to go skydiving or ride a motorcycle be OK? NO! I smoke outside at work and home and I don't force my co-workers to be near me when I smoke, so I'm only affecting my health down the line. If I have to pay for my own insurance (and I do), why should I get fired just because my employer doesn't like smokers? DISCRIMINATION!!! Saying that most states are at will and employers don't need a reason to fire you is true, but it doesn't mean they can discriminate!
beckyuk2001Jan 10, 2009
I noticed that in my last job. My manager was a smoker too and she never complained about them shooting off for a puff.
darthchaosrspwNov 9, 2009
In states which have "hire at will, fire at will" laws, a vegan boss can do exactly that unless the state they are in have "lifestyle discrimination" laws on the books. Personally, I think "at will" laws need to be either rewritten or abolished because some employers can and probably do abuse the law. I figure there are bosses who have fired employees because they root for a baseball team the boss hates. Sounds silly, but it's probably happened.