Not hired if you smoke?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I was watching the news today and seen where a particular health care business were not hiring anyone that does not pass the nicotine test, but they are not firing the ones that have been there and smoke. Just thought I would see what everyones opinion is on it.

I've looked over quite a few pages and haven't seen anything being posted on this, so if it is I apologize. I just did not see it.

wow!! I have never heard of this - mind you, I'm from Vancouver.

Interesting topic to say the least. On one hand, I agree that nurses, and all healthcare professionals, should be gleaming examples. On the other, wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong.

Specializes in FNP.

I fine with not hiring smokers. Quit smoking, or work someplace else. No biggie.

The hospital campus was smoke free. The campus was large enough that smokers had to drive off the property, it as too far to walk. Security ticketed a lot of employees and visitors, especially that first year. Employees also got sanctions. The volunteers used the proceeds from the fines for their various projects.

in the same token....if that facility doesn't want that ethnicity then may they should do like you say.... go get a job somewhere that doesn't have these policies against "blacks, asians, native americans...." i don't smoke but i do color my hair. is it really ok by you for an employer to not hire someone because of what they do outside of work or how they look?

i find all of this behavior discriminatory and frightening. a slippery slope to a restricted society based on the haves and the have nots by one persons prejudice and opinion. a policced state. it's not about increased insurance premiums......because they aren't hiring them at all!!!

it's the same as the late 1800's and the nina laws

1860 many irish saw about signs reading "help wanted – no irish need apply"; these signs came to be known as "nina signs." (this is sometimes written as "irish need not apply" and referred to as "inna signs"). these signs had a deep impact on the irish sense of discrimination.

dis-crim-i-na-tion

   /dɪˌskrɪmthinsp.pngəˈneɪthinsp.pngʃən/ dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif show spelled[dog-scrim-uh-ny-schuhthinsp.pngn] dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif show ipa

noun [color=#333333]1. an act or instance of discriminating.

[color=#333333]2. treatment or consideration [color=#333333]of, or [color=#333333]making a [color=#333333]distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based [color=#333333]on [color=#333333]the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and [color=#333333]religious intolerance and discrimination.

3. the act of exclusion of person or persons

it's not right it's just not right.....:devil:

once again (and how hard is this, really, to grasp?), no one has a choice of, or any control over, their ethnicity. that's why there are federal and state labor and equal opportunity laws that bar discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. everyone has a choice about whether or not to smoke, and whether or not to dye their hair, and the right to do so or not as they please. and employers have a choice, a right, to set whatever employment policies and standards they see fit, as long as they're not violating federal or state law. don't like a particular employer's standards/requirements? you're perfectly free to not work there. if a particular employer has policies and standards that are unreasonably onerous or exclusionary, they'll find themselves having trouble getting enough employees before too long, and they'll have to change their policies. this is called the free market, which i'm guessing most of the people here complaining about the nonsmoking policies are big fans of.

Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

The campus was large enough that smokers had to drive off the property, it as too far to walk. Security ticketed a lot of employees and visitors, especially that first year. Employees also got sanctions. The volunteers used the proceeds from the fines for their various projects.

Are your Security sworn peace officers and is there a legal code that allows them to ticket a visitor?

Otherwise, all a Symbolic ticket is going to do is to get people mad. Asking them to extinguish it is something they usually agree to, even if they don't like it.

Employee onsite penalty for my place was a Final Warning on first offense; 2nd time was termination.

Specializes in ER, ICU.
I don't even know why I wrote it the way I did. I am sure my lack of sleep played a part, and it was called a joke. ;)

I wasn't offended, you can call me crazy if you like...

many hospitals in many states do this.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Once again (and how hard is this, really, to grasp?), no one has a choice of, or any control over, their ethnicity. That's why there are Federal and state labor and equal opportunity laws that bar discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. Everyone has a choice about whether or not to smoke, and whether or not to dye their hair, and the right to do so or not as they please. And employers have a choice, a right, to set whatever employment policies and standards they see fit, as long as they're not violating Federal or state law. Don't like a particular employer's standards/requirements? You're perfectly free to not work there. If a particular employer has policies and standards that are unreasonably onerous or exclusionary, they'll find themselves having trouble getting enough employees before too long, and they'll have to change their policies. This is called the free market, which I'm guessing most of the people here complaining about the nonsmoking policies are big fans of.

It's not hard at all....and I don't appreciate your sarcasm. BUt that's your thing. I don't disagree with smoke free campuses. I don't smoke. What I do disagree with is the exclusion to even hire or consider someone because of what they do in their home that is legal under the guise of promoting and reducing health costs. It's a dangerous precedent, and if allowed to continue, I believe, will lead to further discriminatory practices like not hiring diabetics. What is to stop them....in this day of genetic testing and someday deciding at birth you are excluded from jobs because you have a genetic tendency towards addiction, heart disease, obesity or other possible traits.

Sounds paranoid? I don't think so. As a victim of a disability that I had no control over (acquired auto immune neuromuscular disorder) I KNOW I'm discriminated against beside the ageism that exists in nursing today. The trouble is proving it and having the money to pursue it. Oh...you can report them and they may get their wrist slapped, but they are allow to continue on. It's a power trip to be hiring to healthy and the beautiful and excluding the old and imperfect.....and it's discrimination

For me it's personal and I feel starting a precedent of exclusion.......and that's wrong. I guess we have to agree to disagree.....Peace:)

Specializes in FNP.
Are your Security sworn peace officers and is there a legal code that allows them to ticket a visitor?

Otherwise, all a Symbolic ticket is going to do is to get people mad. Asking them to extinguish it is something they usually agree to, even if they don't like it.

Employee onsite penalty for my place was a Final Warning on first offense; 2nd time was termination.

Of course they were, how else could they have ticketed people? And yes, it made people very angry.:lol2:

Esme, the point you are missing is that one has a right to make choices. Either chose to smoke or chose to work in a certain place. The choice belongs to the individual, as it should. There is nothing discriminatory about it.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Of course they were, how else could they have ticketed people? And yes, it made people very angry.:lol2:

Esme, the point you are missing is that one has a right to make choices. Either chose to smoke or chose to work in a certain place. The choice belongs to the individual, as it should. There is nothing discriminatory about it.

I get the point.....I really do...........I'm just afraid where it will lead.:crying2: and then it will be too late to retrieve the power back away from the hospital administrators. I truly don't believe that this is some altruistic wholesome concern for my or anyone else's health. Just their wallets....and that concerns me for the future. That's all:cool:

Specializes in FNP.

Oh, I don't think it comes from altruism either. We agree on that.

Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.

Also work on a non-smoking campus; have smoked in my life-but was always cognizant of others and did not smoke around non-smokers. Glad I haven't smoked for a very looooooong time.

That being said.....

Smoking and so many other things are bad.....

Discrimination exists and goes on behind closed doors and blatantly......people hire people; therefore they hire what is comfortable for them or what they "value" in an employee.

Everyone's outside is on display: fat, ugly, short, tall, tattooed, pierced, ethnic, whatever......I can guarentee anyone who is less than average in someone's view will not get the job. We've all heard it "appearances are everything!" While this is subjective crap, people are hired on it; not their qualifications. How many have seen articles in which salary is tied with height, age, looks.....what do any of these things have to do with getting the job done? Apparently a lot, because we Americans tend to value these things; therefore we make these people the more successful ones!

As for smoking, bad for you....bad for those around you.....stinks....causes health problems.....not necessary to life. Raises insurance rates.....employer's market, employer rules.

We currently have all kinds of programs for wellness, know your numbers, etc etc....waiting for the other shoe to drop and make it mandatory. Then, all of the nurses who are so stressed and take bp meds, antidepressants, anxiety meds, muscle relaxants, heart meds for inevitable SVT (ER) know a bunch......will all be looking for new jobs. Then we'll have medically induced ageism whose medical symptoms are probably entirely contributable to their jobs!

M

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