Employer Control over Smoking?

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

And should I have to pay for my birth control pills while the plan seems to pay for your Viagra?-Buffy

Don't need it and quite frankly sex just isn't that important to me that I ever will...cuddling is better...O.k. so I'm a little messed in the head...but I'd rather have wifey contentedly lying in my arms than....well you know...it gives me peace and piece of mind (which I need and crave far more than physical gratification)...and NO insurance should not pay for things like viagra.

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

SHEEeeesh! Been gone a loooooooooonnnng time! (Fish) Has it really been 2+ years?!?

[REASON]

You're "old enough" in Hypo-years to remember Fish! I do miss the guy....

 

Any ideas why he doesn't participate any longer? He wrote some great stuff.

[Ganoderma]

i wused to work in construction renovating houses and in that industry, smokers really waste time, in general. i never would hire a smoker, simply because they are always feeling "something", adn alays takign 5 minute breaks here and 10 minute breaks tehre to haev a smoke....and if you don't let them have a smoke, they are bitchy and unproductive all day.

 

im not trying to rag on smokers, but i really saw productivity (and energy) go WAY down when drugs are involved (any type).

[Star30]

So do you vote yes? Do you think you should be able to tell your workers they can't smoke?

[Nitack]

Oddly enough, my government degree is going to come in very handy for this discussion, which is rare on these boards.

 

The question of whether or not your employer has the right to restrict your behavior depends largely on your views of the social contract that we all enter into as members of society and your views concerning socialism. Let me right now state that I most closely identify with the Libertarian model of small government and emphasis on the rights and responsibilities.

 

Contrary to what is taught in most schools, the US is neither capitalist nor a democracy. The US is a republic (few govern on behalf of many) and we have a hybrid socialist and capitalist economic model. We tolerate entrepreneurship and innovation because of the benefits they bring, but heavily redistribute wealth and resources. The idea being that you don't actually need all that wealth and there are others who don't have enough wealth to obtain what they need. I don't believe in that school of thought, but that is what drives our socialist programs such as social security, welfare, medicare, medicaid, HUD, etc. Regardless, the government takes wealth from some in order to provide benefits for all in theory. So the question becomes if the government, or collective population, are providing you with these benefits, will the government, and collective population, have the right to dictate how you live your life?

 

How does this relate to your employer you ask? It is a matter of your ideological beliefs. If your employer provides you with health benefits, they have a legitimate interest in your health, because it will cost them more if you are unhealthy. You want the benefits so you conform to the restrictions. If your employer does not provide health benefits, they have no legitimate interest in your health, and no right to dictate how you live your life. You being a smoker will cost them more money, therefore they have four choices:

1. Eat the cost - not likely in the long run as we are seeing by this very discussion happening
   
2. Mandate that you not participate in self-destructive activities, smoking/drinking/promiscuous sex, because it will cost them more money
   
3. Stop offering Health Benefits - you don't like the sound of that one do you?
   
4. Fire you - your a liability that will cost them more than some one else in the long run.
   

 

If you think this is bad, be afraid for the day when Universal Health Care is made a reality. The government will have every right to even more heavily tax tobacco. Hell, the government will have the right to tax you for being obese. Why? Because they are footing the bill for your bad habits.

 

The ultimate question here is not whether or not your employer has the right to dictate your off duty behavior. The question is, what is more important to you, the benefits you receive from social programs that redistribute wealth and resources (health insurance is an idea based in the socialist model) or the individual rights and freedoms to do what you want when you want?

 

You can't have both, they are of opposing ideologies.