{"id":841,"date":"2012-01-12T13:35:21","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T20:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theloungeisback.wordpress.com\/?p=841"},"modified":"2012-01-12T13:35:21","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T20:35:21","slug":"workplaces-banning-smokers-period-is-that-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=841","title":{"rendered":"Workplaces banning smokers &#8212; period. Is that cool?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"842\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?attachment_id=842\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?fit=300%2C302&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"300,302\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"mizoram-no-smoking\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?fit=300%2C302&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-842\" title=\"mizoram-no-smoking\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?resize=298%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?w=300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?resize=298%2C300&amp;ssl=1 298w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 298px) 100vw, 298px\" \/><\/a>Here is something I&#8217;ve written about before, employers not only banning people from smoking on the premises, but refusing to hire smokers and firing people for being smokers.<\/p>\n<p>This<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/money\/industries\/health\/story\/2012-01-03\/health-care-jobs-no-smoking\/52394782\/1?loc=interstitialskip\"> USA Today article<\/a> looks at this. There are a growing number of companies that are doing this, even including nicotine in the list of things they drug test for. If employees test positive for nicotine, boom, they&#8217;re out the door.<\/p>\n<p>Hospitals and health organizations have led the way on this. The reasoning is two-fold:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A) Smokers raise the health insurance premiums of everyone &#8212; smokers and nonsmokers alike. (And this is true. It&#8217;s been well-documented.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>B) Smokers also have a higher level of absenteeism and illness than nonsmokers and thus their productivity is affected (Also well-documented).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That being said, this still smells very wrong to me. I prefer the carrot approach to cutting down smoking, not the stick. This is kind of where I split from the rest of the anti-tobacco lobby.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m perfectly OK with employers charging higher insurance premiums to smokers. I think that&#8217;s completely fair because smokers do cost everyone money and should pay their share. At the same time, I&#8217;m also OK for higher premiums for being who are obese, because obesity causes nearly as many health problems as smoking (and may cause more premature deaths than smoking within the next 10 to 15 years.). But, refusing to hire people and firing people? Smells wrong.<\/p>\n<p>What I personally would VASTLY prefer is if companies helped pay for smoking cessation programs for their employees, with the &#8220;carrot&#8221; being lower premiums if they are successful in quitting. If smokers don&#8217;t want to go through the program and are OK paying higher premiums, that&#8217;s their prerogative.<\/p>\n<p>As far as I know, no smokers has ever won an anti-discrimination suit against a company for refusing to hire smokers or firing someone. I&#8217;ve scoured the Internet. People have filed suit, but I haven&#8217;t found a case in which a smoker has won or got a policy overturned. For the moment, it appears in certain states, companies have the right to do this. Apparently under federal law, smokers are not considered a &#8220;class&#8221; of person, so this is a legal practice under federal law.<\/p>\n<p>People have sued and have won cases for being fired for being overweight. What&#8217;s the difference? No employer in his right mind is going to fire someone for being fat and then telling them that to their faces (places like Hooters can get away with this somehow). But, you can fire a smoker because they smoke on their own time?<\/p>\n<p>A total of 29 states have passed laws protecting smokers&#8217; rights, but in 21 states, companies can still fire and refuse to hire smokers. I really think this goes too far. I&#8217;m not comfortable with it.<\/p>\n<p>(As an aside, I noticed one charity quoted &#8212; the American Lung Association &#8212; as not hiring smoking. Hah, OK, I can see that!)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is something I&#8217;ve written about before, employers not only banning people from smoking on the premises, but refusing to hire smokers and firing people for being smokers. This USA Today article looks at this. There are a growing number of companies that are doing this, even including nicotine in the list of things they &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=841\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Workplaces banning smokers &#8212; period. Is that cool?<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,60,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-tobacco-campaign","category-smoking-bans-2","category-workplace-smoking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/mizoram-no-smoking.jpg?fit=300%2C302&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-dz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1102,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1102","url_meta":{"origin":841,"position":0},"title":"Smokers cost employers an average of $5,800 a year","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yoiks, I can only imagine the comments at the old Smokers\u2019 Club (I haven\u2019t a clue if that is even around anymore. It\u2019s been years since I looked.) on this story! According to an Ohio State University researcher \u2014 between absenteeism caused by added health problems and lost productivity due\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;smoking&quot;","block_context":{"text":"smoking","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=57"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/US-businesses-pay-about-6000-extra-for-workers-who-smoke.jpg?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/US-businesses-pay-about-6000-extra-for-workers-who-smoke.jpg?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/US-businesses-pay-about-6000-extra-for-workers-who-smoke.jpg?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4337,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4337","url_meta":{"origin":841,"position":1},"title":"Mixed signals on smoking and COVID-19","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"May 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't done an update for a while. I've been pretty busy, then like most people, my life has been upended by the effects of the COVID-19 virus and blogging took a backseat. Then, in late April, our blog was hacked. By someone in China using our blog to sell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;COVID-19&quot;","block_context":{"text":"COVID-19","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=924"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/111263590_060637102.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/111263590_060637102.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/111263590_060637102.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/111263590_060637102.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1707,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=1707","url_meta":{"origin":841,"position":2},"title":"NBC, CNN go all out on smoking this weekend","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"January 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For the 50th anniversary of the Surgeon General's watershed report on smoking and lung cancer, both NBC News and CNN had for a time last weekend smoking as their top stories. Imagine my excitement seeing cigarette smoking dominating the top of both websites with so many other stories going on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;cigarettes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"cigarettes","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/nbc-front-page.jpg?fit=1200%2C705&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/nbc-front-page.jpg?fit=1200%2C705&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/nbc-front-page.jpg?fit=1200%2C705&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/nbc-front-page.jpg?fit=1200%2C705&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/nbc-front-page.jpg?fit=1200%2C705&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":881,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=881","url_meta":{"origin":841,"position":3},"title":"The lung cancer and nicotine genes","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday I mentioned the \"lung cancer gene.\" This is interesting stuff to me, and exciting for a potential cure to lung cancer, the No. 1 cancer killer. Several years ago, researchers isolated a gene mutation that appears to mark whether you are at risk for lung cancer. One of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Lung cancer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Lung cancer","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DNA.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2574,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2574","url_meta":{"origin":841,"position":4},"title":"London mayor frosty to smoking ban in parks","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 London, England, not the London that's home to Joe Thornton and Drew Doughty, has started up a huge brouhaha by proposing\u00a0to ban smoking in parks. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, called the proposal \"taking bossiness too far.\" \"People should be discouraged from smoking but I think actively to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;London&quot;","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=353"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/london2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/london2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/london2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/london2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/london2.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3617,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3617","url_meta":{"origin":841,"position":5},"title":"Washington Post: U.S. smoking rate drops below 17 percent &#8230; and other smoking trends","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A very nice article in the Washington Post this week about \"who stills smokes today.\" First of all, the good news. According to the Post article, which got its numbers from the Centers for Disease Control, the smoking rate in the U.S. has dropped to 16.8 percent. That's the lowest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;centers for disease control&quot;","block_context":{"text":"centers for disease control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}