You Will Be Next!!!
Editor's Note: I bring you this post from Alton Blair, one of the contributors here for the Effect. It refers to the decision of Weyco and a few other companies who have begun to refuse to hire smokers at all and even fire employees who do smoke. They are doing so on the basis that smokers will cost the company far more money for their medical benefits than a non-smoker.
By Alton Blair
I know many of you non-smokers say: "great it's about time we make people stop smoking and stop killing us". I understand companies are forced to pay higher healthcare cost based on the behavior of its employees, but what I do on my free time is my business. When we allow companies to dictate lifestyles in order to determine employment this will spiral out of control. Now it was unheard of not so long ago for a company to require you to urinate into a cup as a prerequisite for employment. We sheepishly accepted this and it has become the standard, but this opens the doors to all sorts of discrimination. I don't use that word lightly. I believe in today's world that word is brought into the fore front far too much, but it is so appropriate in this situation it sickens me. Let's investigate some facts. Smoking is a health risk. With that said so is overeating or having a poor diet. With 30% of Americans obese (Dateline NBC) who's to say your employer won't come to you and say: "Sally I know you had McDonald's for lunch and that is not very healthy, so we are going to have to let you go", or "Bill we have an investment in our employees and since your black and will not have an average lifespan as long as white male, we are letting you go", or "Bob I seen you have 4 drinks at the Christmas party so we feel your drinking will cause health risks, were letting you go". These examples may seem crazy, but if the non-smokers and the smokers don't rally together this could very shortly becomethe reality. Please don't sheepishly accept this as business moving into a positive direction because you don't smoke. I encourage all of you to send an email to Weyco Inc. and tell them this is a ridiculous policy and you will never do business with them. http://www.weyco.com/web/index.jsp
posted by SSG_E @ 01:29
1 comments
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1 Comments:
I used to support smoking bans and the like because I do not smoke and I could care less. But, while I do see smoking as a weakness I do believe in private property rights and personal responsibility. It is a "slippery slope" and I think firing employees who smoke is unfair. It is similar to what the ACLU is trying to do with Christians. After they destroy Christianity, someone will be next. If you fire smokers, then you might as well fire fat people and people who sky dive in their free time. A Catholic Priest who was held in a concentration camp during WWII once said that he watched the Nazis round up the communists and said nothing because he was not a communist. He watched them round up the Jews but said nothing because he was not a Jew. When they finally came for him there was no one left to standup for him because everyone else had already been arrested. People need to stand up to tyranny and discrimination, even if it does not affect them immediately. You never know who will be next.
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