In January 2005 Weyco Inc., company based in Michigan has brought up the issues based on firing employees who smoked. Wyeco Inc., gave their employees few months to quit and obey their new policy and also arranged variety of free programs such as drug therapy and acupuncture, to help employees quit smoking. About 20 of Weyco’s employees successfully quit smoking, for those who have not succeeded were fired. Howard Weyers, the company’s founder, justified the policy as protecting Weyco against high health care costs (Grace, Cohen, Holmes, p.79).
In this paper, Weyco’s unjustified discrimination against smoking employees will be argued. I will examine various ethical issues and mainly focusing on the issues of discrimination towards the employees on Weyco’s policy against smokers. I believe that from the beginning, employers are allowed and should be organizing non-smoke workplace environments so that nonsmoking staffs do not encounter increased health risk due to second hand smoke. However the corporation’s right to adjust an employee’s personal health-related practice off work and interfere with their personal life style brings up numerous amounts of ethical issues.
I argue that there are different ways to address the non-smoking policy, for example one company could provide a voluntary smoke quitting program and other healthier life programs during recess for the employee’s benefit. I like to say that this method serves as the blameless policy, but the report showed that
Introduction This case arose when Jesse Williams died due to lung cancer after smoking three packs of Marlboros every day for 47 years of his life. Jesse Williams was a janitor in Portland, Oregon and he started smoking while he was in the army in the 1950s. Even though, he made several attempts to stop smoking he was unsuccessful each time. In his point of view, he said: “The cigarette companies would not sell them if they were dangerous.” When Williams learned about his inoperable lung cancer, he felt deceived by the cigarette companies.
Since the first major lawsuit settled against tobacco companies in 1998, there has been much controversy over whether or not these lawsuits are justified. On the pro side of the argument there is much evidence to support that the tobacco industries have long known about the dangers of cigarette smoking. Furthermore that this knowledge warrants the need for compensation. In addition the industry has concealed this knowledge from the public. On the con side of the argument evidence shows that these lawsuits have been based on false claims primarily in regard to health care costs for smokers. Furthermore, the regulations set by the settlement of the 1998 multistate lawsuit have established a legal president which allows individuals
Tobacco use and the effects of second hand smoke have been an ongoing issue for many years. Looking at the attitude of the 1950’s and 1960’s when smoking was thought of as cool, suave, mature, etc., there has been a major turnaround in the way society looks at the use of tobacco. Now the issue is not just smoking and the damage to health that it causes, but now there is the additional awareness of what second hand smoke can do to individuals.
Employers initially constructed charming smoking zones, designating for employees as a smokers' lounge; however, the concept, satisfied no one, considering, non-smokers customarily endured walking through clouds of smoke to reach work. Employers desired the smoking accommodations close to their jobs as possible, therefore, employees required less time for their smoke breaks. (Heathfield,
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH, 2007; Richardson (2001) argued that manual groups are likely to smoke heavier than the managerial groups and stated likely reason for this such as food insecurity, substitute for food, social environment, segregation and pressure, lack of good health and lack of confidence. In addition to this, epidemiology statistics reported by Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC, 2013 and Wanless, 2004) stated that smoking is more prevalent among the lower socio-economic groups and known to be key part of the disparities in life expectation between manual and non-manual groups. Therefore it is important something is done to eradicate inequality in the health of the general population.
2. The CEOs took action by implementing the health and smoking programs. Although there we many alternatives, their action was focused on the individual’s choice: to participate or not. The decision then became that of the employee and not the “for the group.”
In my opinion, employers can implement the rules and requirements for their employees, as long as they do not go against the law in the current state or the country. Charging employees more for health insurance, or requiring to quit smoking, both seem pretty reasonable strategies to me. A lot of people value financial stability. So, the fear to be fired, or pay a lot more for medical insurance, can encourage people to stop smoking and actually benefit their own life and increase the company’s productivity. However, the new rules and regulations should be implemented step by step. In my opinion, Weyco’s approach was very smart. Fifteen months was a reasonable amount of time to quit smoking. Company did not just throw this policy to its employees, but actually did everything possible to help them save their jobs.
Specifically, implementation of rules is on the overall safety of each and every person within the workplace. Unfortunately, there will be people who feel triumphant and those who feel discriminated against and defeated. The manufacturers, distributors, and retailers who sell tobacco and now the e-cigarette that creates a vapor for the customer, feel defeated as they and the customers continue to receive push-back from those who do not smoke. Allowing the use of e-cigarettes in the workplace creates a double edge knife for the employer. In defense of the e-cigarette user production will not diminish, and the person will be more enjoyable to be around, since they are able to receive their nicotine addiction. On the other hand, for the worker who does not smoke, while there is still evidence Trtchounian, Williams & Talbot (2010) the vapors released from the e-cigarette and the smoke exhaled by the smoker, possess a health risk to others purely on the chemicals used within the e-cigarette. Moreover, further findings indicate the non-cancer exposure of nicotine and propylene glycol still exceed the minimum of 1.0 parts, which creates a health risk for anyone who inhales the smoke exhaled from another person (Offermann, Francis (Bud), 2014). Any time a person’s actions in the workplace can possibly bring pain and
Nicotine is highly addictive, which is one of the reasons why it is so dangerous. The nicotine withdrawals a person might go through can be one of the biggest reasons they cannot/will not quit. Smokers may know the dangers it causes, but have too much difficulty quitting and it is no longer an option for them. They may decide to continue smoking, accepting the risks simply because of the psychological and physical traumas quitting takes them through. One of the employees fired by Weyco in Michigan due to its ban on smoking, Cara Stiffler, spoke out about the policy. She strongly disagrees with the ban and she believes that quitting smoking is a fight about personal liberty. She says “I want to quit, but I want it to be on my terms, not someone forcing me to make that
History has proven that government penalties, in the form of taxes, deter smoking. The 2000 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report, Reducing Tobacco Use, found that raising tobacco-product prices decreases the prevalence of tobacco use, and tobacco tax increases produce significant long-term improvements in health. From its review of existing research, the report concluded that raising tobacco taxes is one of the most effective tobacco prevention and control strategies (7). Along with price increases, mass-media campaigns and smoking bans have made cigarette smoking pretty much unacceptable in today’s society. “Today, approximately 22 percent of adults age twenty-two and older are smokers, compared with 33 percent in 1979” (Thorpe 1440). It is clear, from these examples, the use of penalties to deter the unhealthy behavior of smoking is a successful intervention.
Regardless of the fact that there is not a dynamic multipronged approach, the endorsement and usage of a smoking boycott at the neighborhood or state level for the most part includes much open verbal confrontation, which itself builds open attention to the wellbeing impacts of smoking and used smoke (Johns et al 260). Thusly, smoking practices frequently change before and past the limitations set up by enactment (for instance, stopping or willful without smoke working environment approaches in expectation of a boycott, lessening in smoking in homes), and such changes would add to the greatness of changes in wellbeing results seen after the execution of a smoking boycott.
The P.E.R.I.E. process is illustrated in this case by the steps taken to address the issue of smoking rates in adults, being impacted by the rise in adolescent smoking behaviors. The first step of this process is the Problem. In this case, the text indicates, the problem is the growth rate of smoking teens in the 80’s and 90’s (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015). This in turn, led to an increase in adult smokers. This would raise rates again, after previously lowering them by approximately 50% (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015). The next step is Etiology. In this step we correlate smoking with cancer and the rise of adult smoking rates with the growth of adolescent smoking rates. This in turn, correlates adolescent cigarette smoking, to the rises in cancer (morbidity), and deaths from cancer (mortality). The case study also states, “…it was also found that nearly 90% of those who smoked started before the age of 18…” (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015). It was determined through behavior modification (preventing adolescent smoking), the rate of adult smokers would reduce. Thus, recommendations were introduced. The case study reveals, adolescents were targeted in cigarettes advertisements and marketing (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015). Cigarette availability was also an issue. Implementations of sales and advertisement campaign policies, were altered in reference to miners. The text reveals, once evaluated, strategies to reduce adolescent smoking
However our concern here is not only about the cigarette as a product but with the ethics of cigarettes as well, that affect the social process of marketing. This is because marketing process makes things worse and is also considered as unethical, and as a result has a significant negative impact on the societal welfare. Multinational tobacco companies apply sophisticated strategies ( such as putting flavor in the cigarettes and placing cigarettes in the shops near the sweets to make them more appealing) and invest huge amounts of money for marketing, in order to establish brand familiarity and future loyalty among young peoplem, to secure profits in the long run. 'The tobacco epidemic is a man-made international health crisis, created and sustained by multinational tobacco corporations.' (Yach, Brinchmann, Bellet page 2).
As the cultural climate toward smoking changes, restrictive workplace smoking policies are becoming widely accepted by both employers and employees. There is, however, a crucial difference between those policies which accommodate reserved areas for smoking and those which do not. Smokers at work tend to prefer the former especially when the alternative is a total ban. An evaluation of a smoking ban implemented at a Scottish University in October 1997 suggests that the total ban is not only unpopular with smokers but also among non-smokers who experience unintended consequences of the new policy. The greatest complaint from non-smokers stems from the relocation of smoking to outside and particularly around the entrances to University buildings.
Blanpain, Roger, and Gordon Anderson. Smoking and the Workplace. The Hague: Kluwer Law Internet, 2005. Print.