Companies are now testing employees for tabacco. They won't hire anyone who smokes and require those that are employed to quit. I don't smoke but I don't think this is right. Smoking is legal. It shouldn't bar you from employment. The arguement is that it isn't healthy. So what about people who are over or under weight? Could they be next?
Would you say this is discrimination?
- Thread starter Black Manta
- Start date
uh :thrawn: they can test for tobacco usage? 
It's discrimination but part of it is justified. Well, maybe not justified but within their rights. I feel they certainly have the right to stipulate that they won't hire new smokers but I don't believe it's right for them to fire current employees just because they smoke. If a new guy interviews they can clearly state in their contract that he's not allowed to be a smoker. That's fine, it's the guy's choice to take the job or not.
You, however, were not hired with the idea that you could one day be fired because you smoke. For them to just pull out reasons like that is completely unfair. As long as it doesn't affect your job performance it shouldn't be cause for termination.
It's discrimination but part of it is justified. Well, maybe not justified but within their rights. I feel they certainly have the right to stipulate that they won't hire new smokers but I don't believe it's right for them to fire current employees just because they smoke. If a new guy interviews they can clearly state in their contract that he's not allowed to be a smoker. That's fine, it's the guy's choice to take the job or not.
You, however, were not hired with the idea that you could one day be fired because you smoke. For them to just pull out reasons like that is completely unfair. As long as it doesn't affect your job performance it shouldn't be cause for termination.
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Yes it's discrimination. I can understand justifying that you're knowingly creating a health risk to make it so that youre health insurance costs more......but not determining actual employment. Even what I said I understood is still construed as discrimination.
shawndavid
Are you wanting making fuck berserker?
Smokers are a liability. They're more likely to abuse alcohol. They're also, in conjunction with what Coqui said regarding insurance, more apt to be ill thus keeping them out of work. This is a gray area regarding discrimination imo; it's a business and an employer has the right to keep down costs.
Discrimination, period. You won't find many people who despise smoking more than I do, but if a person wants to smoke and it doesn't interfere with job performance, that's his or her business, not the employers.
that's a tough one. both sides have very valid points. i'm going to stay tuned before i make a decision!
Why is it ok to have a smoke break and not for a just get up and go stand outside for few minutes break?
Seems silly under most circumstances to me. It would seem more logical to me to make the smoker pay for the increase in healthcare insurance costs they cause and make a uniform policy on breaks (smoking or otherwise). There are a couple of jobs for wish I can see image being a valid part of the job, and there I would ask that it be kept away from customers. For example, the floor people at Armani Exchange are very clearly groomed for a certain look and feel, and it probably helps their business a lot.
However, I generally support the idea of a private enterprise being allowed to make its own decisions regarding employment. If you want to hire someone and don't want to deal with smokers just because you don't feel like it, then the government shouldn't be involved. As long as the free market is available to keep it in check.
However, I generally support the idea of a private enterprise being allowed to make its own decisions regarding employment. If you want to hire someone and don't want to deal with smokers just because you don't feel like it, then the government shouldn't be involved. As long as the free market is available to keep it in check.
Agreed. I don't want a nanny state. Whether it's the government or business. If tobacco is such a bad thing then make it it illegal. Oh that's their is too much money to be made off of it instead.
The illegality of marijuana is ridiculous in the face of the amount of money we make off of tobacco taxes and the mounting war debt. (Sorry if this is really off topic.)
Yeah, also contributing to the off-topicness here.
Not only do I think Dope should be legal, it should also be mandatory.
Back to topic:
Totally discriminating, it's legal and a personal choice. Companies have no right to dismiss you based on your personal choices (unless those personal choices affect the manner in which you work and your productivity).
see? this is why you're supposed to bitch and moan when they make the first assault upon a civil liberty. no one complained when they first started testing for something (drugs) and now things are going to get out of hand. next they'll be testing for cholesterol on the grounds that you can't risk an employee having a heart attack on the job.
Syrup Beaver
pants log
I guess it would depend what the business is. For say, professional athletes, hell yes it's justified. For a bartender, wtf.
In my general opinion, as long as it in no way affects the ability to do your job, it should be fine to hire a smoker. The companies that institute policies that discourage the hiring of smokers are the ones who will be hurting in the long run, as they will pass over some extremely qualified workers for the sake of a moronic policy.
In my general opinion, as long as it in no way affects the ability to do your job, it should be fine to hire a smoker. The companies that institute policies that discourage the hiring of smokers are the ones who will be hurting in the long run, as they will pass over some extremely qualified workers for the sake of a moronic policy.
Back in college I went for an internship interview with Phillip Morris. It was crazy. You got patted down going through the door and you had to leave any tobacco products at the front desk. But once you were inside there was bowls of cigs etc. everywhere. Everyone was smoking up like crazy in their offices. It looked like a bar. The internship job would have had me working as something similar to a pc tech and I didn't want to spend all day everyday breathing in that smoke and cleaning tar out of computers and off monitors. As you left you weren't allowed to take any tobacco with you either.