DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cleveland Clinic bans hiring of smokers

I don't know.....it isn't that important....but rulings allowing for gender differences in dress has long held.

A company with a short hair requirement for male workers can't enforce the same standard to it's female workers as an example.


Why a guy would want to wait at Hooters is beyond me...I would suspect the tips would be pretty pitiful.

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Why a guy would want to wait at Hooters is beyond me...I would suspect the tips would be pretty pitiful.

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For the same reason a lot of these things end up in court... just because somebody said they couldn't.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E6DA1E3AF932A35753C1A961958260

Hooters has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a lawsuit filed by men who were denied jobs by the restaurant chain, which is known for its voluptuous and scantily clad female bartenders and servers.

The settlement allows Hooters to continue luring customers with a female staff of Hooters Girls. But the chain also agreed to create a few other support jobs, like bartenders and hosts, that must be filled without regard to sex.

Three men from the Chicago area sued Hooters after being denied employment at an Orland Park, Ill., restaurant. Each of them will get $19,100. Four men who filed a similar lawsuit in Maryland will receive $10,350 each.

of 3.75 million 89,385 goes to the defendants, the rest to the lawyers and courts probably, what a racket. Lawyers should prosecute themselves for being money launderers.

I am aware of that....I still don't think any male serves would be required to wear nylon stockings.

j/c

This information comes from the CCF Informational Newsletter....
It gives you some reasons for this move....

Cleveland Clinic’s New Nonsmoking Hiring Policy Rolls Out July 1
6/27/2007

Cleveland Clinic is committed to establishing and promoting wellness initiatives that support our mission as healthcare providers, including providing a healthy environment for our employees, visitors and the patients we serve.

New Applicants
To support that mission, a new nonsmoking hiring policy will incrementally roll out beginning Sunday, July 1. All applicants will be informed of the policy and will be required to take a cotinine test during their drug test. The cotinine test will detect the presence of nicotine in all forms of tobacco. At this time, a positive test will have no impact on applicants’ employment status. Applicants who test positive will be offered free cessation services.

From July 1 forward, all job applicants will be informed of the policy when applying for a job upon their first interview. They will also be informed that the cotinine test will be included in their pre-placement physical exam.

Beginning Sept. 1, the policy goes into full effect, and all applicants who test positive for cotinine will not be offered employment at Cleveland Clinic. This policy applies to all Cleveland Clinic campuses in Ohio and Florida (but not Canada). Applicants will be referred to a free tobacco cessation program paid for by Cleveland Clinic. After 90 days, those who have been successful in quitting will be encouraged to reapply.

Current Employees
Current Cleveland Clinic employees will not be affected by the new hiring policy. However, Cleveland Clinic will continue to provide a full range of options to help employees stop using tobacco, including cessation classes, nicotine replacement aids, seminars and forums.

Why adopt the new policy?
Cleveland Clinic has been a leader in preventative health and wellness. In 2005, we designated the entire health system smoke-free. Last fall, we supported the SmokeFreeOhio Initiative on ballots. Recently, trans fats were banned from all patient and cafeteria menus. Cleveland Clinic will join the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society and more than 6,000 other employers in the United States who have chosen to advocate for healthier living.

“As a leading healthcare organization dedicated to fighting disease and advocating healthy living, our policies and procedures must reflect that commitment,” says Toby Cosgrove, M.D., President and CEO.

As Cleveland Clinic helps move society from “sick” care to “health” care, it’s important to acknowledge these startling statistics:
• The treatment of chronic medical conditions comprises more than 75 percent of the nation’s $1.4 trillion medical expenditures.
• Chronic medical conditions account for 70 percent of all deaths in the United States.
• Smoking costs more than $75 billion annually in direct and indirect medical costs.

These costs and statistics call for healthcare organizations to take the lead in promoting wellness and disease prevention, regardless of the tough choices that may be involved. By instituting this new hiring policy, Cleveland Clinic will play a role in reducing healthcare costs for patients, employers and the government by promoting prevention and wellness.
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Now I am not a smoker nor will I ever be. And I was against the smoking ban that was voted upon(but I wasn't for the constituional amendment the smokers wanted either). I don't like this move. But I do understand the motives behind it. I think CCF is completely in their rights to enact this policy. No person has a "RIGHT" nor are they "ENTITLED" to work here. The Clinic will be completely upfront with an applicant before they are hired...so as an applicant you know from the very start what the policy is and if you don't like it...you don't have to apply.

Do you work at the clinic? My sister just started there as an OT.

Yep.....Been here about 9 months....I have the graveyard shift....

I figured that..3am and you are just about the only one here.

LOL...makes it hard to argue with anyone...LOL

Do you feel like Pit that this is the start to a slippery slope? Will they target obesity next? Do they already have programs in place for overweight employees?

By that way there is a very cute dentist from Argentina working there. I had to get a specialized mouth piece and she was my dentist.

Well the clinic has many Health and wellness plans for its employees. We have our own gym, pool and workout rooms, they have counselors and they have an internet based program that helps you keep track of what you are doing and things you can improve on for your health goals. They have also really cracked down on all the cafeteria foods and they are much healthier...for a small example, they use turkey bacon instead of regular bacon...and things like that.

No I don't see this a steep and slippery slope. Like someone said earlier, alot of this is money oriented. Healthcare costs are enormous and the company is reducing risks of having to pay much of those costs in the future with these moves. i mean we think Healthcare is expensive now....What about 30 years from now?????..but who knows it could be the first step im many that would bering us to a Gattica-like situation.

http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content...A9_2578O7I.html

Micah Berman: Hiring only nonsmokers is legal and beneficial
Thursday, July 12, 2007 3:36 AM
By MICAH BERMAN

The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio's second-largest employer with nearly 37,000 employees, has announced that smokers need not apply. The hospital already has begun screening job applicants for tobacco use and, starting Sept. 1, those who test positive will be denied employment.

Several large companies, such as Scotts Miracle-Gro, Union Pacific Railroad and Alaska Airlines, have implemented similar policies, as have 6,000 other U.S. employers, according to the clinic.

Nonetheless, the clinic's announcement was met with the usual mixed opinions. Some praised the policy as eminently fair, while others protested that it encroached upon basic freedoms.

The clinic says that its goal is to "walk the walk" when promoting a healthy lifestyle, but for other businesses, such policies are much more about the bottom line. In comparison to nonsmoking employees, those who smoke tend to impose substantial additional costs on the companies that employ them. Health-care costs are just the beginning. The more substantial costs come from productivity losses due to smoking breaks, extra time off work due to more frequent illnesses, and "presenteeism" -- lost concentration at work because of nicotine withdrawal.

Many employers are unaware that they have the legal ability to adopt a policy like the Cleveland Clinic's. But they do. There are no state or federal laws prohibiting consideration of smoking status in hiring decisions, nor is there any constitutional right to smoke, though the tobacco companies would have you believe otherwise. Laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace generally focus, as they should, on immutable characteristics such as gender, race and nationality. They do not cover cigarette smoking.

But although these policies are legal, are they morally or ethically problematic? Are we surrendering our basic freedoms? The argument that one's off-duty conduct is none of an employer's business would be much more convincing if the employer -- and the other employees -- weren't footing much of the bill. Most employers already prohibit and often test for use of narcotics and other addictive drugs. These policies are not implemented because the substances in question are illegal. Employers have no obligation (and probably no interest) in assisting law-enforcement efforts. Rather, employers have found that employees dealing with drug addiction or withdrawal are less productive and impose costs on the business as a whole. Nicotine addiction is no different.

What about the slippery-slope concern? Will employers start making hiring decisions on the basis of what you eat? Unlikely. Tobacco remains in a class by itself. It is the only legal, consumable product that kills about half of its regular users. You have to eat; you don't have to smoke. Some have argued that coffee may be the next target. Again, unlikely. Annual deaths from smoking: 440,000. Annual deaths from caffeine: 2.

It's important to remember that tobacco-free-work-force policies do not make smokers unemployable. They simply ask smokers to quit, which is something the vast majority of smokers already want to do. Quitting smoking can certainly be done -- Ohio now has more former smokers than current smokers -- but it is extremely difficult without help. That's why it is cruelly ironic that at the same time the Cleveland Clinic and other employers are screening potential employees for tobacco use, the state budget is diverting funding away from tobacco-cessation efforts.

Policies like the clinic's have the potential to save thousands of lives by encouraging employees to quit and by sending a strong signal to college students and young adults to stay away from tobacco. But as smoking prevalence becomes more concentrated in demographic groups that can't afford cessation assistance, it becomes more and more crucial to demand continued public investment in tobacco prevention and cessation.

Micah Berman is executive director of the Tobacco Public Policy Center at Capital University Law School.

mberman@law.capital.edu

You DON'T have a right to work at the Cleveland Clinic...
You DO have a right to smoke (in certain places)
The Cleveland Clinic DOES have the right to hire people based on factors that they feel benefit their company best (aside from the obvious/stated forms of discrimination).

They are not illegally discriminating against people who chose to drop out of grade school.
They are not illegally discriminating against people who want to be surgeons but have no arms/legs.
They are not illegally discriminating against people who would love to be a phlebotomist but faint at the sight of blood...

It doesn't make good business sense for them to hire these people. In this case, they have decided that it is not good business sense to hire smokers (for various reasons).

The only bad thing I see about this, is that it may limit the quality of employees they are allowing themselves to hire. Someone may be 10x the surgeon as the next candidate.. but they would pass them up b/c they smoke?! I just don't like that idea. It's perfectly legal, but it doesn't make me feel as good as a prospective customer.