Smokers now face another risk from their habit: it could cost them a shot at a job....
Read more …Smokers now face another risk from their habit: it could cost them a shot at a job.
More hospitals and medical businesses in many states are adopting strict policies that make smoking a reason to turn away job applicants, saying they want to increase worker productivity, reduce health care costs and encourage healthier living.
The policies reflect a frustration that softer efforts — like banning smoking on company grounds, offering cessation programs and increasing health care premiums for smokers — have not been powerful-enough incentives to quit.
The new rules essentially treat cigarettes like an illegal narcotic. Applications now explicitly warn of “tobacco-free hiring,” job seekers must submit to urine tests for nicotine and new employees caught smoking face termination.
Photo: Steve Hebert for The New York Times
Mandy Carroll, a student at the University of Kansas School of Nursing, just outside the campus.
