AlterNet: Is It Okay to Fire People Who Smoke or Are Obese?

[marmar]

Is It Okay to Fire People Who Smoke or Are Obese?

By Tony Newman, AlterNet. Posted August 18, 2009.

First the employers came for the smokers. Now they're talking about not hiring obese people. Your personal struggle or lifestyle choice may be next.




Two years ago, as part of their "wellness initiative," the Cleveland Clinic stopped hiring smokers. When the Clinic's CEO, Delos M. Cosgrove, was asked about the program for an article in last weekend's New York Times Magazine, he said that if it were up to him, he would also stop hiring obese people as well.

Clearly, lifestyle decisions lead to huge medical and financial costs to both the hospital and the country. The logic, according to Mr. Cosgrove and others who justify not hiring smokers and people who are obese, is that punitive sanctions will coerce smokers and overweight folks to live healthier lives. Not hiring them or charging them more money for insurance, according to their logic, would effectively persuade people to change harmful health practices.

These arguments and rationale were explored in the August 16th New York Times Magazine piece "Fat Tax." Since public health campaigns have been successful in reducing smoking, the article asks, shouldn't we use similar tactics to rein in obesity?

A few years ago, the Drug Policy Alliance anticipated that arguments used against smokers today could be used against overweight people tomorrow. We spoke out against a Michigan heath care company that fired four employees for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoked cigarettes. The company, Weyco Inc., adopted a policy that allowed them to fire employees who smoke, even if the smoking happens after business hours or at home. The company justified the firings because smokers were costing their company more money for health insurance. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/142064/is_it_okay_to_fire_people_who_smoke_or_are_obese/

[taterguy]

1. I work for RJ Reynolds and have a part-time job at Krispy Kreme

I think I'm safe

[billyoc]

9. Damn, I wouldn't even need a paycheck!

:rofl:

[Buzz Clik]

2. The costs of having an unhealthy work force are enormous.

Given a choice between hiring a healthy prospective employee and a prospect who is all line up for a multitude of health problems, it's pretty tempting to go for healthy.

[taterguy]

3. The serious question is how do you know who's going to be healthy?

Do you make applicants provide DNA samples so their genes can be analyzed?

I smoke.

A lot.

But I also only call in sick about once or twice a year at the most.

[Buzz Clik]

4. That's a legitimate question. I'm glad I'll never be faced with it.

The odds are that your smoking will make you gravely ill before you retire. You may be resistant to the perils of smoking, and I hope you are. However, one can understand that, given the real costs of employees missing a lot of work, employers would be interested in their workers to be as healthy as possible.

For me, smelling of smoke or being a big person is a rotten reason for making hiring decisions.

[fasttense]

7. To ensure you only hire "healthy" people, you would have to hire only

the young. Which is what most corporations are doing today.

By the way, if they stop hiring the obese in the South, there would be very few people to hire.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. the young are also human

When I read these stories, I think about the many people I know who died before they were 40, or even 30. Aside from the many who died from HIV/AIDS, others died from accidents related to extreme sports, genetic aliments, cancer, you name it. One of the 'healthiest living' people I have ever known passed out at my feet at work one day and died a few days later. A professional athlete, he ate a 'perfect' diet, touched no drugs or alcohol, did not smoke, was thoughtful and caring, as well as being a high earner with golden health care. " I have a little headache" those were his last words at age 23.
So the whole 'the young don't get sick' thing is just silly. People die at every age.

[Larkspur]

5. And after obese people they decline to hire those with a family history of cancer

or heart disease. Pretty soon, they won't be hiring any American, but I bet they'll head over to India, China, etc to import H-1B visa contractors. They won't have to pay for health care for them.

[ixion]

6. Only if it's okay to fire people who are stupid

or incessant busy bodies.

No. It's not okay to fire people for such things.

[zbdent]

8. hmm ... I just checked, and lo and behold ...

Delos M. Cosgrove gave plenty of $$$ to Repugs ...

so take his stance with that in mind ...

[iamtechus]

10. Make them prove it!

If your employers start claiming that smokers use more sick leave, make them do the numbers. My employer started that crap about 15 yrs ago and one of the supervisors (a smoker) simply dug out the attendance records and proved that smokers used LESS sick leave by a significant margin. I don't claim to know why this was the case unless it's that smoking helps one deal with the stress of working for such assholes.

[shraby]

11. Why do some people always need to pick out a group

of people to "sit at the back of the bus"? That is wrong in so many ways.

[LuvNewcastle]

12. What about gambling?

Someone who gambles could be more likely to steal. Does gambling include bingo and raffles? This can quickly become farcical.