Company policy for healthy lifestyles? |
| Posted by: Anomaly77 | | Quit smoking or quit your job, company says
Overweight workers could be next
Thursday, January 27, 2005 Posted: 5:28 AM EST (1028 GMT)
CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) -- The owner of a Michigan company who forced his employees to either quit smoking or quit their jobs said on Wednesday he also wants to tell fat workers to lose weight or else.
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| Posted by: Dekka00 | | I could see cutting certain benefits if you smoke but man... isn't that somehow illegal? | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Anomaly77 | | I can see giving non-smokers or people otherwise "living healthy" some sort of discount on their health plan or, I can see a no smoking on the property rule at work too. But this is ridiculous!
I guy I worked with once said that we should have a gym in our workplace and there should be mandatory work-out time! WHAT?!?! I asked him if my employer would also provide me with a personal trainer due to my neck injury.
Employers do enough to make their employee's lives miserable while at work. Do we really need to give employers the right to dictate what we do in our personal time?
And, as for the weight thing...if you are 50 pounds or more overweight, you are considered obese and protected by laws pertaining to disabilities. So, really...if your 40 pounds overweight and it could mean losing your job...which could you do quicker and more easily; lose 40 pounds, or gain 10? | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: becker | | A business in today's world is faced with rising costs of all products, especially health care.
Their new employment rules will certainly cause pain and suffering for many.
So...what's left for them to do to stay competitive?
Anyone have an answer? | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Anomaly77 | |
| quote: |
becker said this in post #4 :
A business in today's world is faced with rising costs of all products, especially health care.
Their new employment rules will certainly cause pain and suffering for many.
So...what's left for them to do to stay competitive?
Anyone have an answer? |
Charge those employees higher premiums for health care.
The point here is, where is the line drawn? What will we allow our employers to dictate in our personal lives? You can't smoke, you have to eat healthy, you have to exercise...then maybe they'll decide to bar their employees from certain leisure activities that might be dangerous...force them to sleep a certain amount of hours, perhaps they can make sure we're looking both ways before crossing the street and not sitting too close to the TV too.
Besides, what is dangerous changes on a daily basis and is often subjective. One day, anti-inflammatory medications are safe, the next...well, maybe not. Wearing your seatbelt will save your life...well, maybe but, not always. I was in a car accident where not wearing my seatbelt saved my life.
This is just one more step toward the erosion of personal freedoms, the eradication of privacy, and the semblance of mass societal control.
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| Posted by: Dekka00 | | it wouldn't even bother me that much if the company decided to straight-up not even offer medical insurance to smokers.
but to fire them... how can that be legal? | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: becker | | They are already raising employee health care premiums each anniversary.
The point is that we should take being healthy more seriously than has been the ususal practice.
Smoking...obesity...not excercising on a regular basis only makes you more dependent on meds. and medical care.
Meds are helping sick people live longer than before and further straining the system.
Do you read what's in the processed foods that most people eat? Slow poison. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Anomaly77 | | Maybe we should be taking, being healthy more seriously. But, I don't that employers should be able to enforce that. I don't think that not living healthy by all definitions could cost you your job.
If employers are looking to cut costs in order to stay competitive, it hardly makes sense to add "eating coaches" to your staff (and payroll), or to pay to have employee's tested for smoking. AND, to make employees pay for those tests themselves is even more ridiculous. Could you imagine having to pay $50 to prove to your employer that you do not smoke; so that you can keep your job? | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: fuscia | | my former employer gave free life insurance to us. The smoker's got $5000 and the non-smokers got $10,000. Most companies can bargain for their health insurance. They can write in that there is a pre-existing condition clause for ANYTHING related to smoking. That would cut down on premiums and be an incentive to give up smoking as well. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: Whidden | |
| quote: |
Anomaly77 said this in post #3 :
Employers do enough to make their employee's lives miserable while at work. Do we really need to give employers the right to dictate what we do in our personal time?
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Man, you nailed that one on the head.
And as an aside, most of these health nuts are hypocrites. I saw the congresswoman from Texas who wants to put a weight grade on report cards for kids in Texas schools.
If you are fat, you get an F.
Well, she was fat. Had a big old double chin, and a baggy fat out of shape body.
The reporter did not bring up this to her, he just nodded and acted like she was God.
Health Nazi's want in your life, they want in your business, and they rarely are healthy themselves.
This is all about money. The corporations want to save money on health insurance, I think they could really care less about their employees.
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Business & Economy Forum: Company policy for healthy lifestyles?
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