Health Promotion Programs – Smokers Beware.
In the last few years, there’s been a rising trend for public corporations â.” not just private businesses â.” to ban smoking. Here is what your peers are doing.
What’s New in Benefits and Compensation recently surveyed 374 of our readers from both the private and public sectors to figure out their organization’s policy on authorizing personnel to smoke onsite and hiring smokers in the first place. Here’s what we found -
o 11 percent have developed a policy of hiring only non-smokers
o 17% allow staff to smoke offsite, but ban it on all organization property
o 39 percent restrict smoking to designated areas outside the building
o 30% allow smoking anywhere outside the building, and
o 3% allow use of tobacco in break rooms or other indoor areas.
Public businesss get aggressive
While much of the publicity about no-hire policies for smokers centers on private businesses, it’s actually public corporations in certain states that have been the most assertive of late.
For instance, Florida is one of the states at the forefront of the movement. Sarasota County lately became the third Florida county to take a no-hire stance for control healthcare costs.
New hires must take a drug test that detects nicotine and sign a pledge certifying that they haven’t smoked in the past 12 months.
The ban won’t affect current staff, but the county has undertaken smoking cessation programs aimed at employees’ wallets.
Non-smokers pay less for coverage through various incentives and the county covers the cost of participating in use of tobacco cessation programs.
The reason why Florida public companys can easily take these steps – the state supreme Supreme Court has ruled that refusing to hire smokers does not break discrimination laws.
But your state laws may vary, so proceed with caution before considering similar policies.