Home Articles List Article Information
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Journal Archive
Volume Volume 6 (2017)
Volume Volume 5 (2016)
Volume Volume 4 (2015)
Volume Volume 3 (2014)
Volume Volume 2 (2014)
Volume Volume 1 (2013)
Patel, R., Schmidt, H. (2017). Should Employers Be Permitted not to Hire Smokers? A Review of US Legal Provisions. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, (), -.
Rishi R. Patel; Harald Schmidt. "Should Employers Be Permitted not to Hire Smokers? A Review of US Legal Provisions". International Journal of Health Policy and Management, , , 2017, -.
Patel, R., Schmidt, H. (2017). 'Should Employers Be Permitted not to Hire Smokers? A Review of US Legal Provisions', International Journal of Health Policy and Management, (), pp. -.
Patel, R., Schmidt, H. Should Employers Be Permitted not to Hire Smokers? A Review of US Legal Provisions. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2017; (): -.

Should Employers Be Permitted not to Hire Smokers? A Review of US Legal Provisions

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript , Available Online from 15 March 2017  XML PDF (420 K)
Document Type: Original Article
Authors
Rishi R. Patel 1; Harald Schmidt2
1College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
2Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Abstract
Background
Increasingly, healthcare and non-healthcare employers prohibit or penalize the use of tobacco products among current and new employees in the United States. Despite this trend, and for a range of different reasons, around half of states currently legally protect employees from being denied positions, or having employment contracts terminated, due to tobacco use.
 
Methods
We undertook a conceptual analysis of legal provisions in all 50 states.
 
Results
We found ethically relevant variations in terms of how tobacco is defined, which employee populations are protected, and to what extent they are protected. Furthermore, the underlying ethical rationales for smoker protection differ, and can be grouped into two main categories: prevention of discrimination and protection of privacy.
 
Conclusion
We critically discuss these rationales and the role of their advocates and argue that enabling equality of opportunity is a more adequate overarching concept for preventing employers from disadvantaging smokers.
Keywords
Tobacco Policy; Health Law; Ethics; Employment Discrimination; Denormalization
Main Subjects
Health Policy Ethics
Full Text

Supplementary File 1 (Download)

References
  1. Schroeder SA. Even more illness caused by smoking than previously estimated. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(12):1928-1929. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.4297
  2. Asch DA, Muller RW, Volpp KG. Conflicts and compromises in not hiring smokers. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(15):1371-1373. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1303632
  3. Gray NJ. The case for smoker-free workplaces. Tob Control. 2005;14(2):143-144. doi:10.1136/tc.2004.010215
  4. Berman M, Crane R, Seiber E, Munur M. Estimating the cost of a smoking employee. Tob Control. 2014;23(5):428-433. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050888
  5. Malouff J, Slade J, Nielsen C, Schutte N, Lawson E. U.S. laws that protect tobacco users from employment discrimination. Tob Control 1993;2(3):257-259.
  6. "Smokers' Rights Laws and Their Limitations." Smokers' Rights Laws and Their Limitations. http://uslabormarket.sakura.ne.jp/topics/12/12012/120111%20ash%20smokers%20rights%20laws%20and%20their%20limitations.htm. Accessed July 28, 2015.
  7. Berman M, Crane R. Mandating a tobacco-free workforce: a convergence of business and public health interests. William Mitchell Law Rev. 2008;34(4):1651-1674.
  8. Economic Facts About U.S. Tobacco Production and Use.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/economics/econ_facts/.  Accessed July 28, 2015. Published June 5, 2013.
  9. Chadwick, KL. Is leisure-time smoking a valid employment consideration? Albany Law Rev. 2006;70:117-141.
  10. What Is Nicotine? Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240820.php. Accessed April 7, 2015.
  11. Richtel M. Dire Warnings by Big Tobacco on E-Smoking. The New York Times. September 28, 2014.
  12. Green SH, Bayer R, Fairchild AL. Evidence, Policy, and E-Cigarettes--Will England Reframe the Debate? N Engl J Med. 2016;374(14):1301-1303. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1601154
  13. Pugsley MW. Nonsmoking hiring policies: examining the status of smokers under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Duke Law J. 1994;43(5):1089-1114.
  14. Kahlenberg R. The Remedy. New York: Basic Books; 1996.
  15. Altman A. Discrimination.  In: Zalta E, ed. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition). Stanford, CA: Stanford University; 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/discrimination/. Accessed July 28,  2015.
  16. Schmidt H,  Voigt K, Emanuel E. The Ethics of Not Hiring Smokers. N Engl J Med. 2013;368:1369-1371.
  17. Bagenstos SR. Employment Law and Social Equality. Michigan Law Rev. 2013; 112(2):225-274. 
  18. Lifestyle Discrimination in the Workplace Your Right to Privacy Under Attack. American Civil Liberties Union website. https://www.aclu.org/lifestyle-discrimination-workplace-your-right-privacy-under-attack.  Accessed July 28,  2015.
  19. Valleau C. If you're smoking you're fired: how tobacco could be dangerous to more than just your health. DePaul Journal of Health Care Law. 2007;457:457-492.
  20. Maltby L. Employment Discrimination Against Smokers. Letter to Jim Shields. UCSF Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. August 13, 1990.
  21. The ACLU and the Tobacco Companies. Nieman Reports The ACLU and the Tobacco Companies Comments. http://niemanreports.org/articles/the-aclu-and-the-tobacco-companies/. May 22, 2016.
  22. Garrett BE, Dube SR, Trosclair A, Caraballo RS, Pechacek TF. Cigarette smoking — United States, 1965–2008. MMWR Surveill Summ. 2011;60 Suppl:109-113.
  23. Blum R, Beuhring T, Shew M, et al. The effects of race/ethnicity, income, and family structure on adolescent risk behaviors. Am J Public Health. 2000;90(12):1879-1884.
  24. Olsen DP. The ethics of denying smokers employment in health care. Am J Nurs. 2014;114(6):55-58. doi:10.1097/01.naj.0000450435.27878.30
  25. Hughes JR, Keely J, Naud S. Shape of the relapse curve and long-term abstinence among untreated smokers. Addiction. 2004;99(1):29-38.
  26. Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition.  Berkeley: University of California; 2011:557.
  27. Houle B, Siegel M. Smoker-free workplace policies: developing a model of public health consequences of workplace policies barring employment to smokers Tob. Control. 2009;18:64-69
  28. Pauly M. Penn LDI – Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Penn LDI: Hospitals' Smoker Non-Hiring Debate: An Economic Perspective. University of Pennsylvania; 2013. http://ldi.upenn.edu/voices/2013/08/06/hospitals-smoker-non-hiring-debate-an-economic-perspective. Accessed July 28, 2015.
  29. Dawson A. Resetting the parameters: Public health as the foundation for public health. In: Dawson A, ed. Public Health Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ; 2012:1-19.
Statistics
Article View: 2,238
PDF Download: 428