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Mercy's Smokers Policy Is Discriminatory

Starting July 1, Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines will no longer hire smokers at its hospitals and clinics. Job applicants will undergo testing for signs of cheap cigarettes use. If they test positive, they have to wait six months to reapply. One company official called the policy "living our mission of creating healthier communities."

People shouldn't smoke. But the policy raises questions that have nothing to do with nicotine. They have to do with discriminatory hiring practices. And infringing on people's privacy and lifestyle choices. And stepping over the line by making jobs contingent on whether people test positive or negative for a substance that is legal to buy and use.

As this newspaper argued when Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said it wouldn't hire smokers, Iowa lawmakers should consider legislation to protect the rights of people engaging in legal activities. Other states have laws that prohibit employers from penalizing workers who participate in legal conduct away from work. Iowa should consider a similar law -- and perhaps extend it to job applicants.

Ben Stone, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, questions whether such policies are really about improving health, as Mercy asserts. He thinks the policy is about trying to get lower rates on health insurance. "If you tell an insurance company, 'Hey we don't let any of our employees smoke,' they'll get better premiums," he said.

What is the next step in this lifestyle discrimination?

If you are overweight, you are likely to use your health insurance more often. Should employers be able to refuse to hire anyone because they are fat? If you drive more than 20 miles to work every day, you are statistically more likely to be in a traffic accident. If you ride a motorcycle, your chance of being injured in a traffic crash goes up.

If employers can refuse to hire smokers, why not refuse to hire anyone who has gotten a ticket for not wearing a seat belt? Or anyone who skydives or doesn't wear sunscreen? Why not require applicants to promise they jog 10 miles a day -- and then put them on a treadmill to see if they are lying? How about requiring a cholesterol test as a condition of employment?

Whether intended or not, Mercy's testing punishes people who live with a smoker because the nicotine test may pick up the secondhand smoke cigarettes in the nonsmoker's body. There are many people who have kicked the smoking cigarettes habit but still use nicotine gum or a nicotine patch for months or even years because they know they are still addicted to nicotine even after giving up cigarettes.

It is troubling just how easy it has become to demonize smokers. It has become something companies like Mercy and Wellmark hold up as an example of "doing the right thing." But they ignore the fact that the costs of obesity to the country's health care system rival the costs of smoking cigarettes. Yet no one sends out press releases patting themselves on the back for not hiring fat people.

Companies should stick to providing incentives to encourage healthy behavior to reduce health insurance premiums and improve the employees' health. But don't discriminate against people who engage in legal activities -- and then call it setting "a good example for the communities you serve."


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