Cleveland Clinic to stop hiring smokers

The famous Cleveland Clinic has issued a press release stating their policy not to hire smokers:

Effective Sept. 1, applicants will be informed of the policy when they apply for a job. The presence of Cotinine [a nicotine metabolite] will be confirmed during the post-offer required physical exam. Applicants who test positive for tobacco products will not be considered for employment and will be referred to tobacco cessation resources paid for by Cleveland Clinic. After 90 days, applicants successful in quitting will be encouraged to reapply.

Hey, it’s for your own good. I myself have a policy not to hire Baptists.

With this expanded policy, the Clinic joins the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society, and more than 6,000 other employers in the United States who have chosen to advocate for healthier living.

I think employers ought to be able to hire and fire whomever they want. But don’t call this little bit of totalitarian puritanism advocacy. It’s control.

UPDATE: Lincoln Logs, Right Angle Blog, and Glass City Jungle also weigh in.

Trackback | Posted by Brian | Jun 28, 2007 2:22 pm | Permalink | Bookmark
Categories: Ohio, Politics, News

Posted by Lincoln Logs » Blog Archive » No Smoking, No Job | Jun 29, 2007 8:05 am

[…] saw this story at both The Keeler Report and Columbuser today and I have to think this won’t work. Employers have no ground to stand on when […]

Posted by Lisa Renee | Jun 29, 2007 3:13 pm

I don’t agree with you. I think an employer has the right to determine what an employee does during the work day and not allow smoking on their grounds or even in their company vehicles but once you clock off of their time clock…Anything you do that is legal…should be none of their business.

Posted by Brian | Jun 29, 2007 3:28 pm

Lisa, I hear you. It’s an interesting problem: freedom of people to do what they wish vs. the freedom of employers to hire whomever they wish. What pushes it in one direction for me is the idea that employment is voluntary, on both sides. The employer doesn’t owe anyone a job.

Posted by Lisa Renee | Jun 30, 2007 12:03 am

True but the employee is not the property of the owner, which is my main issue with this. Unless the employer is going to pay you 24/7 you are not under their control when not in their employment.

Posted by BizzyBlog » Couldn’t Help But Notice (070207) | Jul 2, 2007 6:14 am

[…] as time went on. It’s happened. Comments come from the newly- and nicely-redesigned RAB, Columbuser, Glass City Jungle, Keeler Report, and Lincoln […]

Posted by Columbuser.com » A modest proposal for the Cleveland Clinic | Jul 3, 2007 12:10 pm

[…] posted the other day about the Cleveland Clinic announcing that they will stop hiring smokers starting September 1st. Jill Miller Zimon thinks that the clinic should hire more smokers. The […]

6 comments on “Cleveland Clinic to stop hiring smokers”

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