Should a company be able to fire you if you smoke?

[jd4320t]

At work I can't have gum or candy because of their rules. There are even certain areas where water is not available to drink for up to four hours! These are all rules put in place for a reason.

Before I start work I have to enter the locker room and put on shoe covers to cross a yellow line into the cleaner area. There I undress to my underwear and socks and put on sandles to cross over to the even cleaner area where I have another locker. I then open up a sealed bag of scrubs that are clean and put on "clean" shoes that only go in my work area.

This process is in place to reduce outside contamination in our work area.

A hospital should be clean and as contaminent free as possible. Employess walking around smelling like smoke shouldn't be there.

 

[littletommy]

BTW folks, there is a simple solution to this... Be your own boss.

Then again, you have a whole new PITA to deal with, in the regulations dept.

I'd have to get divorced to be my own boss, and I don't wanna deal with all that again.

 

[RockofStrength]

Then that would affect your job, production, etc...

The company should be able to fire you for that.

BUT if you smelling like smoke doesn't affect any of that, then they shouldn't be able to.

You mean in a moral and/or ethical sense? Or that the employer should be forbidden from doing so legally?

 

[CVMA544]

What if someone workes at a Mosque and came back from lunch smelling like BACON?

 

[balorg]

Does the policy exclude the doctors who smoke outside the front entrance on a regular basis?

 

[Expat]

Smoking will affect their health insurance rates. Statistically it affects absenteeism. So employers would have grounds to fire you for it (although as already pointed out, they don't need grounds in Indiana).

 

[UncleMike]

So, my wife's company has set forth new rules on smoking. You can't smoke within 100ft of the building, and you can't smoke on breaks or lunch, even if you are off property.

If you "smell like smoke" you will be sent into a smoking cessation classes, 2nd incident write up,
3rd, FIRED.

OK, first of all, I want my wife to quit smoking, I hate it, but logically, I see it this way..

1. No smoking on property? Cool, their house, their rules, you are on their clock..
2. No smoking on break? Cool, their house, their rules, you are on their clock..
3. No smoking on your unpaid lunch?? NOT their house, you aren't on their clock.. THAT is where I think it crosses the line, personally.

Thoughts?

Buy her a good E-cig starter kit.
She can then get her nicotine hits and smell like nothing at all.

 

[Kimber]

OK heres the real solution buy an eletronic ciggerette. You will not smell like smoke and you do not get any of the dangerous carcenigens (least thats what they say) you still get the nicotene in a vapor but no fire or smell that comes from real cigerettes. I use one and it is really good. Look them up on the internet.

 

[Roadie]

Take up dipping.

It's bad enough my wife smokes, I am gone if she starts dippin, lol

 

[Roadie]

It has already been said. But, IN is an at will employment state so they can fire you if you smile funny or for no reason at all.


I have no problem with a business that says employees can't smell like smoke. It is their business and they should be able to run it as they see fit. there is nothing stopping your wife from working at another business. She chose her current place of employment she could choose another.

Just like with guns you can choose not to patron or work for a business with a no weapons policy or you can choose to patron them and or work there.


Since she works at a hospital she is around the ill and people who are more sensitive to substances. Every one knows that smoking irritates peoples' respiratory system, therefore if you work in a place where there is a disproportionate amount of people sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke. It only makes since to say that employees are not allowed to smell like smoke.


And just to be clear the rule doesn't say "you can't smoke on you unpaid lunch break" it just says "you can't smell like smoke". I would think this would be regardless of the time of day. Unless I missed something in your original post.

So, if she can figure out a way to smoke and then not have any lingering odors after she finishes smoking she will be fine.

I haven't seen the exact wording of the new rules, but according to my wife it says that you cannot smoke on your breaks or lunch in addition to you can't smell like smoke..

 

[Roadie]

Buy her a good E-cig starter kit.
She can then get her nicotine hits and smell like nothing at all.

OK heres the real solution buy an eletronic ciggerette. You will not smell like smoke and you do not get any of the dangerous carcenigens (least thats what they say) you still get the nicotene in a vapor but no fire or smell that comes from real cigerettes. I use one and it is really good. Look them up on the internet.

GMTA! lol

She is actually going to take them up on the smoking cessation classes, so while I do not like the rules ethically, I like that it may ultimately lead to her quitting smoking..

 

[UncleMike]

GMTA! lol

She is actually going to take them up on the smoking cessation classes, so while I do not like the rules ethically, I like that it may ultimately lead to her quitting smoking..

I'd smoked for 47 years.
The E-cig got me off tobacco the day it arrived in May.

 

[Roadie]

Smoking will affect their health insurance rates. Statistically it affects absenteeism. So employers would have grounds to fire you for it (although as already pointed out, they don't need grounds in Indiana).

So does:

Overeating
Eating the wrong things
Drinking
Too much tanning
etc

Where does it stop?
(as pointed out previously on this thread)

 

[CVMA544]

The e-cigs work for me in situations where I can't smoke, still not the same but better than nothing.

 

[Jake46184]

No-one forces anyone to work in this state. If you dislike your employers rules, (no matter how asinine), you may go elsewhere. When enough people refuse to work there or quit then that employer will change their rules. If enough people agree with them and staffing remains high, then they'll keep doing as they wish. It's the way of the world.

I always take any opportunity I get to agree with mrjarrell. What he has described is called Market Forces (in this case, the employment/labor market.) It's how things are supposed to work in our country, free of as much government interference as possible. The market will decide, as mrjarrell described, whether the hospital has made a wise decision.

 

[eldirector]

So does:

Overeating
Eating the wrong things
Drinking
Too much tanning
etc

Where does it stop?
(as pointed out previously on this thread)

And there are plenty of companies that will fire you for these as well:

overeating - health club
eating the wrong things - organic food market
drinking - AA
to much tanning - skin cancer clinic

 

[IndyBeerman]

While I don't smoke, I am not a anti smoking nut unless that smoker makes no attempt to prevent me from inhaling it because of my personal choice.

Now when I seen this article this morning while being driven to get a wisdom tooth cut out (I'm now doing fine, just a little pain) and the first thing that came into my mind is the first person who gets fired for smelling like smoke because they choose to get lunch at a hot dog vendor or other place and come back smelling like smoke and gets fired, all while they are a non smoker.

I see some landmark legal cases, and very hefty $$$ awards going to people who are fired for this because they can not control their outside environment.

 

[45fan]

IndyBeerman has a good point. However unlikely, there are instances that people are exposed to smoke. I would think that the only way this rule could be monitored would be through management. HOPEFULLY common sense would play into this, and non-smokers wouldnt be harassed.

 

[jsharmon7]

I think it's been stated enough, but nobody forces anyone to work somewhere in this country. I realize that not everyone can just up and quit their job because they don't like a rule, but if it's not an option then you have to abide by the rules. I do think it's incredibly stupid that a company would dictate what you do in your free time. I've never been a smoker, so it's hard for me to understand how people can be so powerfully addicted to them. I don't have time in the day to tell you about the things I've seen smokers do. It's definitely not normal human behavior.

 

[T-Mann]

While I don't smoke, I am not a anti smoking nut unless that smoker makes no attempt to prevent me from inhaling it because of my personal choice.

Now when I seen this article this morning while being driven to get a wisdom tooth cut out (I'm now doing fine, just a little pain) and the first thing that came into my mind is the first person who gets fired for smelling like smoke because they choose to get lunch at a hot dog vendor or other place and come back smelling like smoke and gets fired, all while they are a non smoker.

I see some landmark legal cases, and very hefty $$$ awards going to people who are fired for this because they can not control their outside environment.

Good logic, unfortunately it won't happen. Burning tobacco, much like burning marijuana, has it's own distinctive odor. It is highly unlikely that an employee exposed, very briefly during their lunch break, to grill smoke from a vendor is going to be confused with an employee who has smoked two cigarettes or so during their lunch break. The odors are entirely different, and it wouldn't being difficult at all for HR and Management personnel to attend a "controlled burn" of burning tobacco so they can identify the odor and residual odors.