Many employers try to discourage their employees from smoking, but what about denying employment because the applicant smokes?
Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, TN, will no longer hire employees who smoke, reports The Chattanooga Pulse. The hospital plans to drug-screen prospective employees for nicotine. If tested positive, the hospital will rescind its offer of employment. Brad Pope, the vice president of human resources, told the Pulse that the reason for the new policy is to promote a healthy community as part of the responsibility of healthcare providers.
The article quotes others who argue that this policy is discriminatory, and compares it to not hiring people because of weight or because they lead a sedentary lifestyle.
The new policy won’t affect current employees.
What do you think of this new policy? I would love to hear opinions from those in the field.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
While I am on the clock I will abide by policies of the company. No drinking alcohol, No smoking, no lude or rude behavior. While at home or off the clock I am free to do what I please as long as it is legal. IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR A WORK TO DICTATE WHAT I DO WITH MY LIFE AND FREE TIME.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:58 am
If such a thing were true at the rehab center where I work, there would be only a hadnful of people at the facility. I work in the “rust belt”…in a community where folks don’t have much more than smoking to rely on. I’m a non-smoker — I’m siure fully half if not 75% of the people where I work, including nurses, smoke.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
A healty enviourment is great, but do not tell a individual that their rights have been taken away. If a person smokes, does this mean they cannot do their job? NO! Many doctors smoke while they preach to their patients that smoking is bad for them. What an individual does with their life is no one’s business as long as they preform their job duties to the expected level given by their employer. This is the United States and we have rights!