Wow They Are Really Serious - smokers not hired

[LemonIndiscretion]

....About employees not smoking!!!

I just applied for a Student Nurse Associate position at a hospital affiliated with the organization that runs all the big hospitals in my area- (basically everyone in my state who works in healthcare has at one time done some training at one of the hospitals or worked for the hospitals) and even before I even filled out the application online a huge notification pops up that reads something like

ATTENTION YOU MUST ANSWER THE QUESTION ABOUT TOBACCO USE, as of 1/1/2012 X WILL NO LONGER HIRE USERS OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS

it was in a huge box in big red letters

I just found this interesting because I am a former smoker and just quit about 2 years ago. I want to hear what you guys think.

[NoviceRN10]

There is only one hospital in my area that I know does not hire smokers, and they state in their application process that you will be tested for nicotine. Just got an email from the President of our hospital group yesterday complaining of the amount of smokers outside the grounds of the hospital. Smokers are supposed to be off campus. I think he should concentrate on the amount of employees with their nose in front of their cell phones instead. I guess you can be a smoker, they just don't want to see it?

[FLmomof5]

The hospital where I work has a "No Smoking" policy on campus. I work my 12.5 hr shift without smoking. They do NOT test my blood for nicotine. I believe that since Nicotine is LEGAL, they should not be allowed to do this. They CLAIM that smokers have higher absentee rates, but you would NEVER know that if you saw MY history! I will never work for a company that tests for nicotine. If I participate in a LEGAL activity outside of work hours, that is NONE of my employer's business. I honor the "No Smoking on Campus" dictums. That should be enough!

[elkpark]

From posts here over the last few years, it appears this is a growing trend in healthcare. I, for one, welcome it. There are several existing threads about this topic; you can use the "search" button to look for them if you are interested in what has already been discussed.

[bsyrn, ASN, RN]

While I do not agree with not hiring smokers, I fully support non-smoking health facilities/campuses. If people want to smoke on their own time, no problem. I don't feel patients or other staff should be exposed to it.

[OCNRN63, RN]

My hospital hasn't gone that far (yet), but if you get caught smoking on hospital grounds, you will be terminated, no ifs, ands or butts.

[33762FL]

Smokers are not a protected class, so it's not illegal to refuse to hire them (like it is illegal to refuse to hire people based on things like race, religion, etc.) I don't blame them, if you can hire somebody who doesn't have an unhealthy lifestyle choice that will lead to them taking more breaks and increasing healthcare costs then why wouldn't you?

[MomRN0913]

I think it's BS when when your employers try to control your LEGAL activities on your own time. This actually angers me a lot and i don't want to get into it. I'm a former smoker, not a current one with the exception of about 2 cigs a month when out with friends.

Like I have said before, they need to start monitoring for other unhealthful activities like eating fast food. Or weighing everyone and if you are over a retain weight, you can't work. Make it an all around thing. Smoking isn't the only unhealthful lifestyle choice. I knew a nurse who took was very heavy and took too many breaks to eat. Seriously.

OK, I am getting fired up now, I will stop.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Although I am a nonsmoker who dislikes the smell of cigarette smoke, I think we're travelling down a slippery slope by refusing to hire smokers.

In the coming years, I'll bet you all top dollar that other non-protected classes of people will be excluded from the hiring process. The overweight, the obese, people with preexisting health problems, people with past foreclosures and repossessions, workers with gaps on their employment history, and others will be targets. I can see it coming to a corporation near you!

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I think it's BS when when your employers try to control your LEGAL activities on your own time. This actually angers me a lot and i don't want to get into it. I'm a former smoker, not a current one with the exception of about 2 cigs a month when out with friends.

Like I have said before, they need to start monitoring for other unhealthful activities like eating fast food. Or weighing everyone and if you are over a retain weight, you can't work. Make it an all around thing. Smoking isn't the only unhealthful lifestyle choice. I knew a nurse who took was very heavy and took too many breaks to eat. Seriously.

OK, I am getting fired up now, I will stop.

I disagree. I don't think ANY of those things should be criteria for non-hire, including smoking. I do think the employers should be able to regulate what is done while on campus.

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

The hospital where I work has a "No Smoking" policy on campus. I work my 12.5 hr shift without smoking. They do NOT test my blood for nicotine. I believe that since Nicotine is LEGAL, they should not be allowed to do this. They CLAIM that smokers have higher absentee rates, but you would NEVER know that if you saw MY history! I will never work for a company that tests for nicotine. If I participate in a LEGAL activity outside of work hours, that is NONE of my employer's business. I honor the "No Smoking on Campus" dictums. That should be enough!

I tried the same argument with booze, but management was a bunch of Orwellian fascists about it.

Jerks.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

It's a slippery slope........we are fast becoming a policed state. Employers are now asking for facebook passwords.

I wonder where this will all end up......

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