Wellness Programs - Smokers Beware.

In the last few years, there’s been a rising trend for public corporations - not just private corporations - to ban use of tobacco. Here’s what your coworkers are doing.

What’s New in Benefits and Compensation lately surveyed 374 of our readers from both the private and public sectors to find out their organization’s policy on authorizing staff members to smoke on-site and hiring smokers in the first place. Here’s what we found -

• 11% have developed a policy of hiring only non-smokers

• 17% allow workers to smoke offsite, but ban it on all corporation property

• 39 percent restrict tobacco use to designated areas outside the building

• 30% allow smoking anywhere outside the building, and

•  3% allow tobacco use in break rooms or other indoor areas.

Public corporations get aggressive

While much of the publicity about no-hire policies for smokers centers on private companies, it’s actually public businesss in certain states who have been the most aggressive of late.

For  instance, Florida is among the states at the forefront of the movement. Sarasota County recently became  the third Florida county to take a no-hire stance for control healthcare costs.  

New hires must take a drug test that detects nicotine and sign a pledge certifying that they haven’t smoked in the past 12 months.

The ban won’t affect current workers, but the county has undertaken use of tobacco cessation programs aimed at employees’ wallets.

Non-smokers pay less for coverage through various incentives and the county covers the cost of participating in tobacco use cessation programs.

The reason why Florida public businesss are able to take these steps -  the state supreme Supreme Court has ruled that refusing to hire smokers doesn’t break discrimination laws.

But your state laws may vary, so proceed with caution before considering similar policies.