Stupid q's: Has smoking cigarettes kept you from getting a job?

elkpark · Oct 20, 2012

In spite of all of this, I find it wrong to not hire a smoker...it is not against the law(yet). Employers should not be able to discriminate against smokers...

Why is it "wrong"? There are any number of issues/personal qualities, etc., that may be legal but an employer may find undesirable (tattoos, piercings, inappropriate attire worn to the interview, etc., etc., etc.). As long as the employer is not violating state or Federal employment or EEOC law, the employer is free to set whatever employment standards it chooses (just as it is the right of smokers to choose to smoke).

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 20, 2012

Years ago, an agency that handles respite workers for special needs children/adults once sent a new caregiver to my home. Before her first visit, a received information about her, and spoke at length to her supervisor, who assured me that this person was perfect to take care of my preschooler for a few hours a day, once a week.

Except what she didn't tell me was that the woman would arrive in a cloud of smoke. I opened the front door and the FIRST thing I noticed was the cigarette odor; I was taken aback but didn't want to be rude so I invited her in. I had her stay about fifteen minutes when I worked up the courage to tell her there was a problem (I was once not so outspoken as I am now, believe it or not!).

I told her that her resume was fine, but the scent of cigarettes triggered a reaction in me that causes my throat to close up, cough, etc. Not life-threatening but still uncomfortable, and I didn't want it around my child, I didn't want to find out what effect it might have on him.

She understood, and assured me if given another chance, she would arrive without any possible hint of cigarettes on her. She swore it was just because she had smoked on the way over. She never smoked in her own home, and so on.

Ok. So second chance comes the following week. I opened the door, let her in...and there it was. In her hair, on her clothes. She insisted she hadn't smoked since before getting dressed, not even in her house, but---there it was. In her hair, on her clothes.....and I didn't want it near me or my child, so.....she was out of a job.

Could I discriminate against her based on the fact she smoked outside of work? You betcha: she smelled badly and was a potential health risk to my family. End of employment.