Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: tm37
It is pretty open and shut because the act of smoking is LEGAL.
I am going to fire anyone who has a hobby that could cause bodily harm or make them miss work.
Next is if you have an occasional drink followed by you are 10 lbs over your ideal wieght. It is ILLEGAL to discriminate due to medical conditions (Pregnacy comes to mind). This is simply a company that is going after a group that has been targeted and garners no sympathy so it might not be a PR disaster. However the courts will slam this one shut as the courts typically do not like to set this type of precident.
Drinking is legal, too. How many people have been fired for laying out of work multiple times after drinking after-hours?
Smokers miss more days on average, and are less productive on average than non-smokers.
What's the difference? You mentioned weight. Everyone knows that women can't help weight gain associated with pregnancy, so that's an irrelevant argument.
But smoking is a choice, that does not just affect the smoker. It affects the rest of the employees and the employer, with the higher costs of medical care over the smoker's lifetime, vs. a non-smoker who might be your theoretical "10lbs over ideal weight".
It should be the employer's choice whether they want incur this extra cost or get rid of it.