Four employees of a health care company have been fired for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes.
Weyco Inc., a health benefits administrator based in Okemos, Mich., adopted a policy Jan. 1 that allows employees to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking happens after business hours or at home.
As a “more-libertarian-than-not” Republican, I support the right of a private company to hire whom they choose, but should they be permitted to regulate what their employees do on their own time? That doesn’t seem right.
Tarry for the Nonce 
As a proponent of the free market, a company can fire someone for whatever stupid reason they see fit. No one owes anyone a job. Of course, the ones fired can totally sue and possibly win.
If a company is willing to fire someone over something this dumb, they are unlikely to make wise decisions about their labor force. This will cause them to loose a competitive advantage and loose their market share. Same with a company who hires based on any other bias.
The free market will take care of everything.
Now when the government starts messing with people’s personal lives, that’s a whole different story.
Comment by Mark — January 25, 2005 @ 2:11 pm
Wow, that sounds an awful lot like those drug tests we had to take to get hired. Only even dumber.
Comment by Toly — January 26, 2005 @ 8:22 am