Wellness Programs - Smokers Beware.

In the last few years, there’s been a rising trend for public businesss â.” not just private organizations â.” to ban tobacco use. Here’s what your colleagues are doing.

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

o  11% have created a policy of hiring only non-smokers

o  17% allow staff to smoke offsite, but ban it on all organization property

o  39 percent restrict use of tobacco to designated areas outside the building

o  30 percent allow tobacco use anywhere outside the building, and

o   3% allow smoking in break rooms or other indoor areas.

Public companys get aggressive

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

For example, Florida is one of the states at the forefront of the movement. Sarasota County lately became  the third Florida county to take a no-hire stance to control health care 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 staff members, but the county has undertaken smoking cessation programs aimed at employees’ wallets.

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

The reason why Florida public businesss can take these steps -  the state supreme Supreme Court has ruled that refusing to hire smokers does not break discrimination laws.

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