Michigan firm heroic for requiring workers to not smoke
Health & Fitness with Bill Hauda I have many fitness heroes, people who have had a profound impact on the health of others. They include people like Dr. Ken Cooper, whose book on aerobics touched off the running boom in the 1960s, Bill Rodgers, who dominated the Boston Marathon and American running for many years, and Lance Armstrong, who battled cancer to become the greatest cyclist of all time.
Now I think I may have to add
Howard Weyers to my list. Weyers isn't a well-known athlete or health educator. He's the president of a small health benefits company in Michigan and he recently made perhaps the boldest statement yet against smoking.
Despite the threat of being sued under various federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination, Weyers ordered a phased-in ban on smoking by employees at Weyco Inc. As of the first of this year, Weyco employees caught smoking anywhere, including at home, can lose their
jobs. In taking this bold step, Weyers raised the ire not only of smokers, but of civil libertarians, who view the action as an assault on individual freedom.
The reason Weyers took the action to have a smoke-free work force is quite simple. Not only is Weyco a health benefits company, it pays for health insurance for its workers, not unlike many other employers. Smoking is a major contributor to and cause of disease, such as lung cancer. If people didn't smoke, it follows that
health-care costs would go down.
One study published in the Journal of Occupational Medicine estimated smokers cost their employers about $3,000 more per year in medical expenses, lost productivity and absenteeism than employees who do not smoke. The Centers for Disease Control estimates the cost in health care and lost productivity to be $3,391 per smoker. That adds up to $157.7 billion nationally.
Although smokers charged that Weyco's action was discriminatory, the company is
apparently on good legal ground, at least in the state of Michigan. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said it would not sue because Michigan has no law prohibiting employers from controlling behavior outside the workplace.
About half of the other states do have laws that protect smokers. Many of those laws were enacted under pressure from the "smokers' lobby" (smokers groups, tobacco companies and taverns) to protect "smokers' rights" as government and
business began to curb smoking in restaurants, business establishments and the workplace. The effort to enact such a law in Michigan in 1999 never got off the ground.
"Federal and state laws prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of age, sex, race, weight, national origin and other attributes and smoking is not a civil right," Weyers said in a statement responding to his critics. "It's just a poor personal choice."
"Moreover," Weyers
continued, "for other lifestyle issues, Weyco provides positive assistance, such as wellness counseling and subsidized health club membership, in which participation is voluntary. Weyco's mission is to help businesses improve employee health and cut costs with innovative benefit plans. Weyco decided to take the lead by phasing in a tobacco-free employee policy over 15 months, with company-paid smoking-cessation assistance."
Attorneys David J. Houston and Kristine Moore, who
represent Weyco, wrote in Michigan Forward that there is precedent for Weyco's policy. They said "many employers prohibit employees from 'moonlighting' (working a second job) lawful off-duty conduct. In addition, professional athletes routinely forego the opportunity to engage in lawful, nonwork activities, such as skydiving or motorcycle racing."
The attorneys said attempts to get smoking declared a constitutional right have been rebuffed in the courts. Attempts to make
smoking a protected disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act have also failed, with one judge observing to do so would render "somewhere between 25 percent and 30 percent of the American public disabled under federal law because they smoke."
Weyco's Web site details why the company took the move: "There is no longer any question about the devastating effects of tobacco use on our society, or why it must be eliminated. Tobacco is a major killer and drain on
health-care resources."
The company estimates Michigan's smoking-related health-care costs to be $2.65 billion a year. Lost employee productivity due to smoking adds $3.4 billion.
"Every Michigan household pays $557 in taxes for smoking-related illnesses annually," the company said. "Each smoker costs his employer more than $4,000 a year in absenteeism, medical benefits and earnings lost to sickness or premature death, etc." The company put the Michigan
smoking death toll at 16,000 a year "more than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined."
At Weyco, the policy resulted in a dozen employees ending their use of tobacco. The company said only three employees decided to quit their jobs and seek employment elsewhere.
Howard Weyers set a bold example for all employers. Let's hope the rest of them follow his lead.
Bill Hauda is a veteran of some 50 marathons, including 13 Bostons, a
former competitive triathlete, a bicyclist, founder and first president of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, and currently a BFW board member. A professional journalist, he has written newspaper, news service and magazine articles and columns on running, health and fitness since 1978, and is currently director of Wisconsin's two major cross-state bicycle tours. |
