U-Haul to decline job applicants in Washington who use nicotine

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

PHOENIX -- If you smoke or use other nicotine products, you soon won't be considered for a job at U-Haul.

The company announced on Monday a new nicotine-free hiring policy across 21 states, including Washington. Starting Feb. 1, all job applicants in those states will be questioned about nicotine use, and in states where testing is allowed, must consent to be screened.

Those already working for the company will not be affected by the new rule, company officials said.

“We are deeply invested in the well-being of our Team Members,” Jessica Lopez, U-Haul Chief of Staff, said in a statement announcing the policy. "Nicotine products are addictive and pose a variety of serious health risks. This policy is a responsible step in fostering a culture of wellness at U-Haul, with the goal of helping our Team Members on their health journey."

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/U-Haul-to-decline-job-applicants-in-Washington-14947098.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletterspi&utm_term=spi

[Aristus]

1. Nicotine users are outraged by this, but I think it makes sense.

Smoking is a choice that smokers make that adversely affects their health. Companies should not be required to subsidize such a habit, especially if it's going to mean footing their employees' medical bills to treat the huge range of preventable diseases caused by smoking.

Conversely, I hope this serves as an incentive for smokers to quit. If smoking adversely affects your employability, that might help. No smoker quits for health reasons. I've seen enough smokers in my exam rooms refusing to quit even after the onset of chronic or deadly disease to know for certain.

[marble falls]

6. What if they refused to hire blacks because as a group they have more hypertension ...

health issues? Or that black women have higher rates of breast cancer?

[Aristus]

7. I wrote "Smoking is a choice" is the very first sentence of my reply.

Obviously, being born black is not a choice.

Any company not wanting to hire a group of people based on risk factors for genetic, as opposed to preventable, diseases, would have to refuse to hire white people because of their higher rates of multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease, or face a barrage of lawsuits.

[marble falls]

8. There is no law against an individual smoking, only where. It won't stand ...

and shouldn't. Its not the company's business whether I smoke, have sickle-cell or spend time in the banyo with crones.

[Aristus]

9. You bring up a good point. No law against smoking, only where.

A private corporation can't fine you or throw you in prison for smoking. But there's no reason why they should employ you if you do smoke.

I'm not an apologist for the feckless, greedy, often-incompetent world that is corporate America. But there is a benefit to them if, when faced with two equally-skilled, qualified, and industrious applicants, one of whom is a smoker and the other a non-smoker, that they hire the non-smoker.

I don't hate smokers. A lot of my patients smoke, and I love my patients. And that's my particular interest in all of this. No patient thinks that, by continuing their life-threatening habit, they will one day end up breaking the heart of their medical provider. But it happens.

I lost a patient just the other day. Smoking was not the direct cause of her death. She had so many medical issues that she was carried to an early death at age fifty-two. But every medical condition she had was made worse by smoking. I broke down and cried when I got the news of her death. I wish smokers would start thinking of the people who love them.

[marble falls]

10. Then you'll like my story: I never smoked and have a second hand smoking ...

cancer.

I wish they didn't smoke. I can't force them to quit smoking. I'll settle for anywhere but around me. Smoke free rooms and areas are important to me.

The funny part was that smokers didn't really bother me that much pre-cancer, but now being in a room where I can smell even old tobacco makes me ill.

[Aristus]

11. Second-hand smoke kills. It's one of the reasons why I don't see pediatric patients anymore.

It was getting harder and harder to resist the urge to drop-kick parents who smoke out of the clinic.

They invariably bleated that "I only smoke outside", lying through their nicotine-stained teeth at me and knowing they were exposing their children to a deadly substance.

[marble falls]

12. My parents smoked, my grandparents smoked: everybody smoked ...

I was shocked when I was old enough to realize how shabby their house was between smoke damage and some extremely hyper grandchildren.

They all finally stopped smoking in the seventies.

My Doctor told another patient's wife that if she didn't quit smoking he was going to quit treating her husband.

[demigoddess]

13. perhaps they are not just anti smoking but anti second hand smoke. Why shouldn't

they care about their non-smokers? Non-smokers are becoming the majority and it doesn't matter what color they are. My father died of lung cancer. And I know that second hand smoking can get you hooked on cigarettes. How about non-smokers choice to be non-smokers. Should they be hooked on cigarettes against their will?????

[marble falls]

14. I have a second smoke hand cancer and it has changed my life with I don't know how many ...

cystologies, 2 BCR series, four bladder resections and a bladder removal since 2012. With a partial colon removal that complicated my bladder removal.

I never smoked after a hand full of cigarettes at 14. But I worked around smokers, in the hospitality industry and my family all smoked while I was growing up. It was the '50s thru '70s, the golden age of smoking. It was practically forced on you when I was in the military. And I was in high school at a time some high schools tried having student smoking area!

This isn't about smoking in an office. This is about what people do away from work. Things that are not against the law.

[demigoddess]

15. and nobody ever sneaked a cigarette when they weren't supposed to?

never knew a smoker that didn't.

[marble falls]

16. Please. Seaking a smoke and not getting caught? How does that happen? Going out to the alley ...

or taking a walk to the 7-11 maybe, but sitting in an office and sneaking a cigarette? What about coworkers who sneak peaks into the e-mail, or take a minute to fix their makeup, or take five minutes extra on a break or lunch to finish a newspaper article or book?

Besides the concept of group punishment over the misdeeds of one person is illegal. You commit murder, should we arrest and prosecute your whole family???

The real issue is about intrusion into in personal lives by corporations. What if your employer doesn't like your membership in the Democratic Party, after all we're a bunch socialists.

[Newest Reality]

2. I have...

I have nothing against better health and stopping bad habits generally speaking.

There is the question of the step over the line from the business to the personal and that's a point that should be made. If you are suitable for a job position and then do your job well and are in good health and let's say you only imbibe nicotine at home, then we have an issue here.

When you set a precedent like this, it is not hard to imagine other aspects of your personal life coming into question. Oh, only for the sake of optimal this that and the other thing of course. Sometimes, if you don't have the option to do what is not considered optimal or better, then you are not making a real choice to do the opposite; you are being compelled.

Intrusive policies conflict with personal freedom. I don't expect the matter to be cut-and-dried, but it deserves some critical debate, at least.

[Indykatie]

3. I Don't Think This Will Pass Legal Scrutiny

The fact that they are "grandfathering" the folks already working for them doesn't help their case either.

[marble falls]

4. It hasn' ever before. How about if they said they would hire obese people for the ...

same reason?