Fired for smoking
Fired for smoking
#0Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 2:52pm
I don't smoke, and can't stand it, but what is next? Fired for your weight? Who you sleep with?
Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke
Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time
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
http://www.wral.com/news/4126577/detail.html
#1re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 2:55pmThey're crazy - they're gonna get sued so hard.
leomaxfrank
Broadway Star Joined: 3/19/04
#2re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 3:36pmwow. Fascism in companies - who'd a thunk it??
Jamie Hat
Broadway Star Joined: 4/5/04
#3re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 3:54pm
Good. Maybe when all the smokers are broke and unemployed they won't be able to afford any more packs.
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#5re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:12pm
Thus spake the prophet.
I have to say that I love the whole no smoking in bars thing in NYC. My clothes don't smell, I don't lose my voice after an hour and everything's just a tad more pleasant (and this from a reformed smoker).
But this is just a little bit ridiculous.
#6re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:20pmI also love the smoking ban here in NYC - but for an employer to dictate what you can and can't do in your own time is kind of freightening.
#7re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:21pm
I agree with robbiej -- the last time I was in Marie's Crisis, it was nice to not have to go through a cloud. It was strange, though -- even though there is no smoking, I could still smell it. I think the years and decades of smoking in there has seeped into the wood. But I liked the smoke-free environs, I must say.
And this from a sometimes smoker...
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#8re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:23pmSo, is it fine if the employees sit home every night drinking Jack Daniels, eating KFC and shooting up heroin -- or do they not test for those things?
#9re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:24pmWhat's next? Home breathalizer tests? That's insane.
#10re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:26pm*puts together Care package for Beav*
#11re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:27pmI like to pick up a bucket of smack on the way home.
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#12re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:27pm
I have NEVER worked at a place that tested for drugs.
If I did, I wouldn't have a job.
Oh...wait.
That's cause...er...I love poppy bagels...YEAH! Poppy bagels!
#13re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:28pmWe have random drug testing where I work.
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#14re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:30pmThen how do you get away with it, Crackhead Connie?
#15re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:32pmWe don't have random drug testing here at *insert company name*, so I'm safe. But Lord, if they start checking random internet usage, I'm sunk.
#16re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:33pmWouldn't you like to know?!
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#17re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:48pmAs a gay man who unfortunately smokes, should I start packing for the camps now?
#18re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:49pmAre girls allowed in your gay state?
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#19re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:50pm
Well, Beav - to the extent we can be (since we have to have warm weather) we're already here! 
BwayTheatre11
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/03
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#22re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/25/05 at 4:56pmDamn right we do, DGrant.
Jamie Hat
Broadway Star Joined: 4/5/04
#23re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/26/05 at 10:24amThe guys in the apartment below need to STOP smoking whatever it is... It doesn't smell as good as grass and it's even worse that cigarettes (can you imagine?). If I were the Landlord I wouldn't rent out to them smelly buggers. They can keep pets out, why not smokers?
#24re: Fired for smoking
Posted: 1/26/05 at 10:31am
I have a friend who isnt supposed to eat fast food / junk food becuase she works in a job that involves testing health issues.
I think if a company wants to be a "non-smoking" company, and doesn't want to employee people who smoke, that is there business, no matter how ridiculous it is.
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