Article: Where There's Smoke, It Wouldn't Lead to Firing
GoddessXena
Where There's Smoke, It Wouldn't Lead to Firing
Tue Feb 8, 7:55 AM ET
By P.J. Huffstutter Times Staff Writer
CHICAGO — A Michigan state lawmaker said Monday that he planned to
introduce a bill to bar companies from firing employees for smoking on
their own time.
The proposed "lifestyle legislation" comes in response to a policy at
Weyco Inc., an employee benefits firm in Okemos, Mich., near Lansing. On
Jan. 1, Weyco began randomly testing its 200 workers for nicotine use,
saying it would fire those who tested positive and refused to quit smoking.
Four Weyco employees have said they were let go under the policy.
"Two of those employees are my constituents, and they came to me asking
for help," said state Sen. Virg Bernero, a Democrat from Lansing who
plans to introduce his bill in the next three weeks.
If passed, Michigan would become one of the few states with a law
expressly stating that employers could not fire or refuse to hire people
for engaging in legal activities on their own time.
"I don't like smoking, but what this company is doing is just
un-American," Bernero said. "These are things happening off duty…. If
it's legal to fire someone for smoking at home, what's next? A company
that fires employees for having a couple beers during the Super Bowl
because the boss is a teetotaler? Firing someone because they wear
clothes on the weekend that the boss doesn't like?"
In a statement released Monday, Weyco Chief Financial Officer Gary
Climes said smoking was clearly a health hazard, and that Bernero's
legislation would make it more difficult for employers to control health
costs.
"When you do something that is extremely harmful to both yourself and
others, it's not a privacy issue — it's a matter of exercising some
personal responsibility for your behavior," Climes said in the
statement. "Michigan businesses, taxpayers and co-workers of smokers
have the right to protect themselves from the horrendous damage caused
by the self-destructive behavior of a small percentage of employees."
Company officials said the policy was put into place to encourage
healthful behavior among workers, as well as to underscore its
health-conscious corporate culture. Inside the company's headquarters is
a framed, handwritten note from Thomas Edison to Henry Ford. Dated April
1914, it reads: "I employ no person who smokes."
Weyco President Howard Weyers said last month that he also had rolled
out the policy to combat the rising costs of employee benefits: "If I
don't do something to change employees' demand for healthcare, I'll
never do anything about costs."
Weyers estimated the company spent $750,000 a year on employee health
insurance premiums and said he was concerned that it wouldn't be able to
absorb additional increases.
But Anita Epolito — one of the four fired workers — said she had not
been participating in Weyco's insurance plan.
"I'm covered by my husband's insurance policy, and have been for years,"
said Epolito, 48, who worked as a receptionist and special events
coordinator at Weyco for 14 years.
Epolito said Weyers first told employees about the policy during a
benefits meeting in November 2003.
At the time, workers were told they couldn't have any nicotine products
in their bodies, she said. "There were some people who were trying to
quit, using the patch or the chewing gum. We were told that if you're
going to quit, you have to stop — and stop using those products — by
Jan. 1 [2005]."
Epolito said she approached Weyco executives shortly before the deadline
and asked what she should do.
"They told me to sign the waiver saying I refused to be tested so I
could be given my final check," Epolito said. "So that's what I did."
Michigan's Kalamazoo Valley Community College instituted a similar
policy last month, saying it wouldn't hire smokers for full-time
positions. School officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
Federal and state laws prevent employers from firing or refusing to hire
workers because of race, religion or gender. Some states, such as
Colorado, have enacted laws offering similar protections for smokers.
Colorado lifestyle-discrimination statutes are considered to be among
the broadest in the nation, legal experts said. Workers cannot be fired
for taking part in legal activities, unless those actions affect their work.
Bernero said his staff was using the Colorado law as a guide for the
proposed Michigan legislation.
NARCrystal
Rich G.
> Top Stories - Los Angeles Times
> Where There's Smoke, It Wouldn't Lead to Firing
> Tue Feb 8, 7:55 AM ET
>
> By P.J. Huffstutter Times Staff Writer
> Bernero said his staff was using the Colorado law as a guide for the
> proposed Michigan legislation.
As anti-smoking as I am atm I'm more anti-companies being able to fire
folks for engaging in legal behavior in our off hours. It's one of those
slippery-slope things. Sure, it's in the interest of lower health-care.
What other groups of ppl are expensive to insure? Ah, let's toss out the
gay people, and old people, they can be expensive. Hrm... married people
with families increase the demands on health care as well. So single
straight people only from 18 to say, 25 can work for us. And they can't
have any unsafe hobbies like attending auto races, and certainly not
racing in them. What if I tire flew into the stands and hit them? No
body should travel to any non-western country, even for vacation, lest
they contract an illness from impure drinking water and file a claim on
the insurance. In fact, we should close the company during the snowy
months so nobody has to drive to and from work... wait, that's not
practical. We'll just put cots in the office so they can sleep here on
days it snows.
Sorry, but that sort of intrusive action on a company's part has
absolutely no reason to end from their point of view. The scenario I
outlined sounds ridiculous, and illegal, but is a logical conclusion of
the precedent set by firing a smoker that smokes while they're not at work.
--
http://www.simplerich.com/blog
Read my book!!!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1411617576/
GoddessXena
I absolutely agree. This company in Michigan has set a dangerous
precedent and I amazed that a discrimination lawsuit hasn't been filed
yet! I am even more surprised that people seem to be so laissez-faire
about the entire situation. Are we *all* sheep, now?
Once companies realize that they can discriminate by will without any
fear of lawsuit or law, we're all screwed, one way or the other.
--
Most of the 40 million Americans who lack health insurance pay for our
political leaders' health insurance premiums through taxes. Since our
leaders as a group have universal health care, why can't they in return
find a way to provide that same benefit for us? -Philip Pollner, MD,
chairman of the National Leadership Coalition for Health Care (August
12, 2002)
---
Agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
http://home.earthlink.net/~goddessxena
RattyBoy
wrote:
>GoddessXena wrote:
>> Top Stories - Los Angeles Times
>> Where There's Smoke, It Wouldn't Lead to Firing
>> Tue Feb 8, 7:55 AM ET
>>
>> By P.J. Huffstutter Times Staff Writer
>*snippage*
>> Bernero said his staff was using the Colorado law as a guide for the
>> proposed Michigan legislation.
>
>As anti-smoking as I am atm I'm more anti-companies being able to fire
>folks for engaging in legal behavior in our off hours. It's one of those
>slippery-slope things. Sure, it's in the interest of lower health-care.
Citizen, ++ ungood comment. refs ++ ungood view of bb. you may be
selected for mini love.
;-)
There is a saying in Washington DC that I learned when I lived there.
"The voters will forget. But the money never forgets." It was what
political appointees always remarked in private conversation. In
politics, you can never screw your donors. Mix that with a
nationalistic nation that more and more is poking their nose into our
lives and you have a recipie for everything you wrote about to happen.
As long as we continue to elect congressmen and presidents who have
corporate interests at heart, we will have employers who run the lives
of their employees.
18-25 year olds tend to not realize how much control employers have.
Then they get seen at a political rally.... Boss calls em in and
bitches em out.... etc.
I have chosen to roll over and die when it comes to amerikas politiks.
When I have a few hundred thousand to contribute to politics, then
I'll worry about it. Until then, I have learned to wear a face of,
"quiet optimism" just like our friend Mr. Winston.
CuckooCathy(Cat)
"GoddessXena" <theSPAMgodde...@yahoo.com> wrote
> Are we *all* sheep, now?
>
Shhhhhhhhhh....TJ may be lurking. ;-)
RattyBoy
<theSPAMgodde...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I am even more surprised that people seem to be so laissez-faire
>about the entire situation.
It's the logical continuation of drug testing (which really only finds
pot).
Kimberly
"GoddessXena" <theSPAMgodde...@yahoo.com> wrote
Are we *all* sheep, now?
|
Come on, Xena. I know you've noticed that people are in love with being
sheep.
Kimberly
GoddessXena
Touché!
--
"It's a time of sorrow and sadness when we lose a loss of life."— GW
Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 21, 2004
RattyBoy
from www.muttonbone.com
*grin*
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RattyBoy
<goldenru...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Come on, Xena. I know you've noticed that people are in love with being
>sheep.
>
>Kimberly
Damn, that's observant. I'm adding that to my daily rants. People
ARE in love with being sheep. WTF? Why?
A friend who is a professor at a university has been bitching about
the new crop of students. The new crop KNOWS they are being spoon fed
on sound bites from every major news source. And they know and accept
that this means that the truth is easily manipulated. Here's the
kicker: they don't give a damn about it.
Why *do* people like being sheep?
Rich G.
It's easier than thinking and absolves ppl of responsibility. "I was
doing what they said to do. I didn't know any better."
Dawn Alguard
>
> And they can't have any unsafe hobbies
Like me, for instance (rock climbing). I'm in complete agreement with
you. What about that company that was doing DNA tests on its workers to
weed out the ones who were likely to develop bad diseases down the road?
Very similar.
Dawn
Crystal NAR
<theSPAMgodde...@yahoo.com>spoke the following from the
heart :
>>Kimberly wrote:
>>
>>> "GoddessXena" <theSPAMgodde...@yahoo.com> wrote
>>>
>>> Are we *all* sheep, now?
>>> |
>>>
>>>
>>> Come on, Xena. I know you've noticed that people are in love with being
>>> sheep.
>>>
>>> Kimberly
>>
>>Touché!
I think I missed something here......
"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking."
http://photos.yahoo.com/missjellygurl (New Age Rocker pics)
"I am always doing things I can't do; that's how I get to do them."
Kimberly
"RattyBoy" <Ratt...@ratty.com> wrote in message
news:vl2k01hktmjmophc8...@4ax.com...
It's easier..... sad but true.
Kimberly
Kimberly
"Rich G." <simpl...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:36ujj4F...@individual.net...
I saw this after my reply. But that's exactly it.
Kimberly
Crystal NAR
<goldenru...@hotmail.com>spoke the following from the heart
:
Huh?
Crystal <---now is TOTALLY fucking lost tyvm
Bill McCartney
http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0501/27/A01-71823.htm
Bill
"GoddessXena" <theSPAMgodde...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d08Od.3296$mG6....@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...