Nicotine preventing employment in Michigan

[Lorihalia]

Ionia man who chews tobacco denied job | WOOD TV8

E-cigarettes aren't mentioned specifically, but it would impact users, since employers are testing for nicotine.

I left this comment:
Testing positive for nicotine does not automatically equate smoker/chewer. What about those who quit smoking yet still use gum or the patch? What about those who've switched to electronic cigarettes?

Those three things alone sustain a nicotine level in the system, two of them are recognized NRTs (with a less than 10% success rate @ 6 mos), and one of them actually works long term in keeping someone off tobacco cigarettes.

Nicotine in and of itself, while addictive, is no more harmful than caffeine - which is also highly addictive, raises blood pressure, increases heart rate, etc etc.

Wanting healthier employees is understandable. The methods used to attempt to find said healthier employees is sadly lacking in both understanding, and execution.

 

[mwa102464]

ya while the CEO sits back and counts his stock options while smoking a big fat cigar right, what BS some of these companies do is just outlandish BS, I say you wouldnt want to work for a company that does these kind of things anyway unless you wanna be down at the in house nurses office ...... in the cup whenever they call you on the phone to come down, companies that run peoples lives suck, personaly I would have a Private eye follow the management then when I caught them in the wrong have it printed in the local news paper and on the news

 

[Lorihalia]

I say you wouldnt want to work for a company that does these kind of things anyway unless you wanna be down at the in house nurses office ...... in the cup whenever they call you on the phone to come down, companies that run peoples lives suck,

Having to submit to random drop tests is more common than you think, in many businesses. Personally, I have no problem submitting to drug testing as a condition for new or continued employment - for Illegal substances.

If I'm going to be screened for nicotine, they better damn-well screen me (and all other employees) for caffeine too, and the punishment for both should be equal.

 

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

Well, that certainly inspired me to sound off:

Following this logic, if I had quit smoking by going to my Doctor and getting a prescription for the Nicotrol Inhaler, this employer would have the right to not hire me because my system shows evidence of cotines - a byproduct of a substance put in my body by my doctor to assist me in quitting smoking?

Hmmmmm.

Will they be testing for other interesting substances too - such as anti-depressants, heart medications, and the like?

It's a disturbing path American companies are walking down, bowing to the pressure from Health insurance industries to be more selective on who they put on a policy. Which profile will be next up, the obese, the diabetic, or the recipient of an organ transplant?

Unfortunately, the company does have the right to set standards to whom they hire and whom they don't.....and nicotine users are not a protected class. But, such businesses who practice such draconian hiring practices should be ashamed of themselves, and the consumers should be actively boycotting the products of said business as a statement of their disgust.

This has VERY LITTLE to do with a person who chooses to use nicotine in any form. This is a business deciding who they want to hire based not on qualifications (or lack thereof) but on what said person chooses as a lifestyle.

 

[Thulium]

Nicotine is prescribed to treat one or more disabilities. Employment discrimination on that basis was made illegal by the Americans with Disabilities Act as Amended in 2009. According to ADAA 2009, it doesn't even matter if you have been diagnosed with a disability, if you are discriminated against on the basis of a disability you are regarded as having it and are (for the purposes of the case) a protected class.

Find a good lawyer familiar in discrimination cases that will make that argument on your behalf and the employer's policy will eventually be ruled to be illegal.

 

[Janetda]

I love that there's no civil rights being violated when they discriminate against tobacco users, but if a business wants to allow smoking in their establishment, then all hell breaks loose.

 

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

Yes, the double-standard and the hypocrisy are glaringly obvious.