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..meanwhile, as chaos erupts, it's always the smokers who find a way to sneak off and smoke at least 4 or 5 times in 12 hours.
I FEEL YOUR PAIN!
My last job used to require two people at the counter at any time for emergency purposes. Well, each and EVERY time we had an in flight emergency inbound or a ground emergency guess where the smoker was? Yup, outside smoking. I'd have to run outside, yell at them to get their ass back in, and then get out on the airfield to take care of business. Absolutely hated the smokers
I can think of many careers where smoking would be a detriment to job performance, including in the medical profession. If you are in the business of promoting good health and want to portray that image, then you have the right to select employees with those same values.
Are they monitoring the weight and BMI of all employee's? Many staff at doctors offices and hospitals around here are overweight or obese. Are they testing for alcohol also? If they want healthy employee's, I would think they want staff who eat a healthy diet, don't drink, smoke, take any drugs (legal or otherwise).
Maybe, though that doesn't deal with those who smoke at home only and are not habitual smokers. If it is simply a matter of "smell", then they can easily require such without a need for a nicotine test. If they have to use a nicotine test, then they can't smell it. Also, if smell is a concern, do they also require them to avoid being around people who smoke? See the problem?
A lot of that is due to the cleanliness of people. Yes, smoking will cause some areas to build up, but anyone who cleans their home regularly (actually cleans, not running a duster over things and doing a vacuum) will get most of that. I knew a person who smoked in their home, but was excessively clean. There was never any of those yellowish stains in the home or any sort of nasty buildup. They also had one of those expensive air cleaners for the home and if they smoked in the house, they did so with one of those venting ashtrays and took means to reduce the smoke. If you had a nose, you could smell it very slightly (very slightly), but it wasn't really that noticeable as some who do not clean their homes are.
Now I have seen homes with people that have dogs that were so disgusting that it was a health violation. I have also seen people keep their homes so nasty, so dirty, so disgusting that I was leery about entering the place for fear I would catch sometihng. The point is, a lot of it has to do with the person, not the habit. Some smoke only outside and are particular about it not being inside so as to avoid it making their clothing in the house smell. I knew one woman who smoked only after she was finished exercising and only outside to which she immediately put her clothing into the washer after and took a shower. There is no way this work place would be able to know she smoked unless they tested her.
And some people smell like the ass end of a dog because they do not keep themselves clean. One guy I used to work with (over weight guy) would always go out to his truck and sit in it while he would eat regardless if it was a 100+ outside. He would always come back stinking like sweaty BO and it wreaked through the office the rest of the day. I also knew a guy who never washed his hands when he left the bathroom and it was disgusting.
Point is, its a double standard. Nothing more. Either we get picky with everything, or we simply admit this is an specific objection based on nothing more than individual distaste.
Not a double standard at all. If that big fat person smelled BO throughout the business they would also be dealth with. There is no right to smell to high heaven at work.
Location: Somewhere gray and damp, close to the West Coast
20,955 posts, read 5,545,820 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jillz
Are they monitoring the weight and BMI of all employee's? Many staff at doctors offices and hospitals around here are overweight or obese. Are they testing for alcohol also? If they want healthy employee's, I would think they want staff who eat a healthy diet, don't drink, smoke, take any drugs (legal or otherwise).
The hospital that discriminated against me because I smoked had a wall of soda and snack machines in the main and satellite cafeterias, and they served up the most tasty eggs, bacon and hash browns from those cafeterias at breakfast time!
Until they decide to start testing your BMI and determine it's your fault and refuse to hire you.
If they can test for nicotine today..they can certainly test your BMI tomorrow. It all depends on what "the collective" decide is good or bad for society.
This is different, we can plainly see that someone is fat, and some jobs, being fat may hamper your ability to perform your job. You may not want to hire an obese person to represent your health spa, nor hire a woman in a wheelchair as a flight attendant.
If smokers wash their clothes and take a shower, and only smoke cigars after working hours, you cannot tell they smoked last night, nor can you tell what level of nicotine is in their bloodstream. This hospital is choosing to discriminate against people, for something they cannot prove without a blood test.
The hospital is assuming all smokers have health problems, and assuming they will smoke at work and will negatively impact their duties. I can see making it a work policy that if you are addicted to tobacco, and constant smoke breaks or foul body odor are negatively impacting your job performance, then I would have a reason to fire people.
Using the hospital's criteria of refusing people employment because they think all smokers have health problems, or their smoking after working hours would impact their image to their customers, or increase their employee health insurance, then I could refuse to hire people with pre-existing medical conditions or for physical handicaps, or just for being unattractive.
We have some laws allowing women to take multiple breaks during the work day to use a breast pumps or diabetics to test their blood sugar levels.
I know people who smoke cigars or pipes, and they never do so at work, because they do not have an addiction, nor do they suffer complications from smoking to their personal health.
The hospital that discriminated against me because I smoked had a wall of soda and snack machines in the main and satellite cafeterias, and they served up the most tasty eggs, bacon and hash browns from those cafeterias at breakfast time!
Pffffffft!
Like i said, the next thing will be refusing to hire people because a blood test proved they eat meat, and the hospital employer is a fanatical vegetarian and animal lover. Where does this end?
Location: Somewhere gray and damp, close to the West Coast
20,955 posts, read 5,545,820 times
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Originally Posted by Wapasha
Like i said, the next thing will be refusing to hire people because a blood test proved they eat meat, and the hospital employer is a fanatical vegetarian and animal lover. Where does this end?
Smokers smell, where they live smell and unless they have smoke free clothes on and can not smoke any of the time they are at work I think employers can as a condition of employment ban smoking.
The hospital is not setting up rules on body order, or taking to many breaks as a reason to fire or not hire people. They use a blood test to discriminate against anyone who has a detectable level of nicotine in their blood, not whether or not they can or cannot perform their duties at work.
Remember, hospitals get millions of taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and collect millions from taxpayer funded health insurance programs.
Like i said, the next thing will be refusing to hire people because a blood test proved they eat meat, and the hospital employer is a fanatical vegetarian and animal lover. Where does this end?
It ends when no one is able to be employed by a hospital.
Doubt that it is illegal, but I'm sure it won't stop someone from suing the hospital if s/he is denied employment on these grounds.
I can think of all kinds of reasons why it makes sense in a hospital environment, not least of which are the people highly allergic to the smell and particulates residual from smoking. As in-patients, these folks effectively constitute a captive audience and every effort should be made to ensure that their health is not further compromised.
I've no problem with this policy.
But, not everyone who is hired by a hospital is a doctor or nurse. There are countless maintenance workers at any hospital, from floor moppers to concession workers.
All these will be denied employment because they smoke?
They do not work with patients.
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