soft, This is a wonderful idea, don't you think. Especially considering that it is a hospital. If there should be any place that is completely smoke-free it should be a hospital. Melanie __________________ The SSC Support Team

I think that when companies start deciding who they hire based on personal preference that is crap. You can tell me that I can't smoke on your property and when I am on the clock but you can't tell me that I can't smoke at all...wth?? I would suggest that even if you are a non smoker that you think carefully about supporting this type of thing. You may be on the happy side of the fence this time but next time it may affect you in a way that your not happy with! This is flirting with dangerous territory for sure!

yeah, its a heated topic. I may be a bit different when I get more days behind me, but I hope not. I did quit for a year back when I was younger and I do know how bad it stinks...I remember thinking YUCK how awful is that smell. And yet, here I am 10 years later! I just don't see what problems it would solve by making it so smokers can't find work...I am just as good of a worker as ANY non smoker and an even better worker than some non smokers so how is it fair? If the business doesn't want to give me a chance, thier loss.

I agree....why do they have the right to even ask?? Its like the questions "how old are you?" "What race are you?" "Are you married?" ....None Your Damn Bussiness!!! It's just not something that they need to know. For now Cigs ARE legal and until they make them illegal then they really shouldn't be able to even ask that question. If I were asked in an interview I wouldn't answer and if they didn't hire me because of it then screw them!!

Point taken! I see that side too...but equal opportunity act is still in place...meaning they shouldn't even be able to ask the question "do you smoke?" IMHO! Privacy rights, all that jazz...it really could be argued all day long. I just see people jump at the chance to hang the smokers when all the money gained goes to building nice facilities for non-smokers! Ironic Huh? I will not always be a smoker but I will always be sympathetic to them, I mean I am/was one so who am I to cast stones. That's just the way I feel...and I do understand where you all are coming from....just want to provoke thought in the other direction. Its only fair to see both sides!

While the arguements are valid that smoking is bad for you and may kill you the picture is much bigger than that!~ This is about freedom of choice. You like your freedom to choose don't you? whatever it may be, right? Then I would suggest that instead of looking at this like you would be defending smoking, look at it like you are fighting for your right to choose how you wanna lead your life!! I just hate when people condemn without even looking at the big picture of it. When something gets taken from you against your will, then I expect not to hear any complaints from the people who support this!!!

Very very interesting... Personally... I don't think it's right. Not that I'm defending smokers. But we do have rights, or atleast some anyway yet in this beautiful country that we live in. I'd guess if someone who was qualified was not hired because of that reason, it'd go up to the Supreme Court. I'd hope that they would strike it down as being unconstitual. (Not spelled right) Thanks, Ron [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/12/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 50 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 1,763 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $337.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 7 [B]Hrs:[/B] 19 [B]Mins:[/B] 15 [B]Seconds:[/B] 20

As far as I am concerned I do not support discrimination of any kind - full stop! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/6/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 82 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 991 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �205 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 15 [B]Hrs:[/B] 1 [B]Mins:[/B] 53 [B]Seconds:[/B] 44

This is a subject that really upsets me. I think any business has the right to tell you that you cannot smoke on their grounds. We are getting into dangerous territory when a business can say they will not hire a smoker. I know they say it is for insurance reasons and I understand that idea except unless you do the same for overweight people, which by the way is the number one health problem in the United States today, unless you do it for the skinny person who happens to have high cholesterol because they eat like crap but you just can't tell because of the way they look, unless you do it for people who drink too much, people who are diabetics, or have any other health problem that will cost the insurance company more money, then it is discrimination pure and simple. You should not be able to target just one unhealthy thing. We should all be very afraid of this. We have a hospital here that is not going to hire smokers because of insurance reasons. They say they are not going to make people test, they are going on their word. I am sure that anyone who smokes would not apply there anyway because they would not be able to go all day without having a cigarette. It is very scary to me that a place where you work can tell you what you can't do on your time away from work. This is not having empathy for smokers. I would hope that everyone could quit smoking and that no one would ever start and we could put the cigarette companies out of business. I don't have a problem with the no smoking in building laws, or no smoking on the grounds of a business law. Lord knows it is great not having to smell the person who just came inside from having a smoke. I just don't think it is fair to target one group of people. The government needs to decide on way or the other about smoking. If you can not hire someone for smoking just like you can do drug testing and not hire someone, then they need to make smoking illegal. Untill they do that, people have a right to do what they want in their own homes. Iwin [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 105 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,118 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $420 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 11 [B]Hrs:[/B] 22 [B]Mins:[/B] 0 [B]Seconds:[/B] 23

I think some of you are missing the point of what people here are saying. Yes a business can not hire a herion addict if they do drug testing to find out they are a herion addict because that is an illegal substance. If they don't test for it they could hire them without knowing. A person could go home abd drink themselves silly every night thereby doing damage to their bodies which in turn would cost the company money. But they don't know that is what they are doing. They can't ask a person have you had cancer, are you a diabetic and so forth. The problem with this is not whether or not a business has a right to decide who to hire because one person is going to cost them more money, it is that they are just looking at one group of people. I don't think they should be able to decide who they hire based on past or present medical reasons, but I would feel better about it if they were not just doing it to one group of people. Eating poorly can cause a ton of different illnesses. Are you going to let them tell you what you can eat too? Don't be surprised if eventually they not only say they won't hire smokers, they will also say that they won't hire anyone who used to smoke either, because they will feel like we have the potential for health problems because the damage has already been done. And also you can forget getting a job if you don't fall within the weight charts as not being overweight. They have every right to tell people they can not smoke on the grounds. The better way to handle this would be to do the drug testing and charge anyone who smokes, drinks more money on their premiums. Then they could do the same for anyone who has any kind of health issue that could lead to a lot of claims. There are many things that can make people unhealthy, not just smoking. Treat everyone fairly. Iwin [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 1/11/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 107 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 2,153 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $428 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 12 [B]Hrs:[/B] 2 [B]Mins:[/B] 48 [B]Seconds:[/B] 29