You puff.. yer out!

[Steff]

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/4125477/detail.

 

 

Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke

Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time

 

UPDATED: 8:55 PM EST January 25, 2005

 

LANSING, Mich. -- A Michigan health care company has fired four of its employees for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes.

 

Policy: Drug, Alcohol, Tobacco-Free Workplace

PDF: Background On Policy

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The company enacted a new policy this month, allowing workers to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking takes place after-hours, or at home.

 

The founder of Weyco Inc. said the company doesn't want to pay the higher health care costs associated with smoking.

 

An official of the company -- which administers health benefits -- estimated that 18 to 20 of its 200 employees were smokers when the policy was first announced in 2003. As many as 14 of them quit smoking before the policy went into effect.

 

 

On the company's Web site, it states:

 

Weyco Inc. is a non-smoking company that strongly supports its employees in living healthy lifestyles.

[mreye]

 

I don't know about this. Couldn't they refuse health coverage?

[Steff]

 

I don't know about this. Couldn't they refuse health coverage?

 

 

They could refuse to pay any part of the premiums, but they couldn't refuse to offer it if they offer it to others in the company.

 

There will be a nice lawsuit over this.. in the millions.

[Texsox]

 

I don't know about this. Couldn't they refuse health coverage?

 

This gets to probable cause. If they are not costing the company any additional money. No extra sick days, not taking longer breaks, etc. they shouldn't be asked to take any test after they are hired.

[mreye]

They could refuse to pay any part of the premiums, but they couldn't refuse to offer it if they offer it to others in the company.

 

There will be a nice lawsuit over this.. in the millions.

I wonder if the smokers were given a choice of whether to be fired or lose benefits.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

Weyco Inc. -- They had a bad experience with fires in the past so they tend to be very averse to seeing flames now

 

[Chisoxfn]

There will definately be a lawsuit over this.

[Soxy]

Smokers are jokers!

[southsider2k5]

To throw a little gasoline on this proverbial fire this was in the Trib on Tuesday

 

Smokers rule

No-smoking laws apply to everyone in the state Capitol except for the people who made them: members of the Senate

 

By Erika Slife

 

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois senators may have voted to ban discrimination against gays, force pay equity for women, increase the minimum wage and tighten oversight of the death penalty, but all that progressive fervor is carried out the old-school way, in chambers and hallways hazy with cigarette smoke.

 

State lawmakers long ago voted to restrict smoking in public places, but one of the few places the rules don't apply is under the Capitol dome--or at least under the Senate half of it.

 

"Some people say it's a tradition in the Senate, but so was spitting in spittoons 40 years ago," said Rep. Bob Molaro (D-Chicago), a former senator who tried unsuccessfully to get his colleagues to change their rules on smoking. "We're passing clean-air laws for everybody else, but then in the chamber we do whatever we want. It smells, literally, of hypocrisy."

 

Nowhere is the upper chamber's custom embodied more than in a painting overlooking the Senate gallery: former Senate President James "Pate" Philip, a Republican who prided himself on an aversion to political correctness, proudly clutching an oversize stogie.

 

The legislature long ago voted to force other smokers who work in state-owned buildings to slip outside or search for the rare designated smoking room, usually found in basements.

 

The House, long run by the scrupulously health-conscious Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), quickly decided to go along with the rules it set for others. The Senate, dominated by leaders with less of a commitment to their personal fitness, opted not to.

 

There's a long history in the U.S. of legislators setting mandates for everybody but themselves, but the winds have been changing. A decade ago, for example, Congress finally got around to subjecting itself to the same laws it had years before imposed on private industry that barred discrimination, required family and medical leave and set out fair labor standards, minimum wage and safety and health rules.

 

In California, home to some of the nation's strictest anti-smoking policies, even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been forced to slink outside to light a cigar.

 

The Chicago City Council voted a few years ago to close a loophole in an ordinance that had long clamped down on smoking in public facilities. Cigarettes were banned in the anteroom of the council chambers where members typically gather on meeting days. Although the smell of smoke sometimes lingers in the men's room nearby, the prohibition has been respected in the anteroom.

 

In the Illinois Capitol, though, there's no reason for senators to sneak their smokes.

 

Smoking was prevalent in the chamber during Philip's reign in the 1990s, and, since he took over two years ago, Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago) has continued the practice. He's also a smoker and can often be seen bumming cigarettes from others on the Senate floor.

 

"Many of our members smoke, as do some members of the press," said Cindy Davidsmeyer, a spokeswoman for Jones. "But the members are there for extended hours, and certainly while they do leave the floor for important meetings, they do everything else there, including lunch and dinner."

 

Members of the media and some staffers light up on the Senate floor. But visitors in the gallery above, where several "no smoking" signs are on display, are restricted to partaking of the habit only second-hand.

 

Taking their smoke breaks outside the Capitol on Tuesday, some state workers said they don't think it is fair that Senate members exempt themselves from the rules everyone else has to follow.

 

"They've earned the right to be there, but everyone should be treated equally," said one woman, a House aide.

 

"I guess they make the laws," added a colleague, "so they do whatever they want."

 

However, some senators have expressed interest in snuffing out the custom on their side of the Capitol building.

 

One unlikely supporter of that movement is Sen. Denny Jacobs (D-East Moline), a longtime smoker. He said he has tried kicking the habit, but failed.

 

"I've quit and come back," he said. "Usually I'm fine until I get around this work system and I need a crutch."

 

Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg, (D-Evanston), said he specifically chose where to sit in the Senate chamber based on who smoked. He said he suffers from allergies and respiratory problems.

 

"It's more than just a mere nuisance," he said. "I chose my office and seating assignment where there are not any smokers."

 

Earlier this month, the American Lung Association issued nationwide report cards on each state's smoking laws. Illinois received three F's, for tobacco prevention and control spending, smoke-free air and youth access. Illinois also got a C for its cigarette tax, which is 98 cents a pack.

 

Kathy Drea, the lung association's public policy director, said that Illinois could improve its ranking by enacting stronger clean-air laws.

 

Last year, Schoenberg sponsored a bill that would have amended the state's clean-air act to allow all cities to create their own smoking laws. Currently, only communities that had smoking laws on the books before the act was created can further restrict smoking. Skokie has gone smoke-free, and the Oak Brook Village Board has taken steps to enact its own ban. Schoenberg said he might introduce a similar bill this session.

 

In the meantime, Senate members believe that their smoking days could be numbered.

 

"It's an old tradition in the Senate, but probably its day will come," said Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin), a smoker.

 

Jacobs thinks that's only right. The Senate should practice what it preaches, he said.

 

"Because it's not allowed really anywhere else," he said, "why should we be any different than anybody else?"

[southsider2k5]

Also this same company is now targeting fat.

 

http://www.nbc5.com/health/4134754/detail....317&dppid=65192