Posted on 03/27/2002 12:09:35 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
ST. CLOUD -- Sewer-plant worker Donald Breeding grabbed a pinch from his can of Copenhagen and carefully packed it against his gum -- a habit that would snuff out his chances of landing a city job today.
In the first-ever policy of its kind in Central Florida, St. Cloud no longer will hire people who use tobacco. Sanford officials also may adopt the get-tough policy, which took effect Monday in the Osceola County city and is aimed at reducing health-care costs and improving productivity.
Job hopefuls are required to sign an affidavit swearing they have been tobacco-free for 12 months. Existing workers, meanwhile, can still light up or have a chaw on break, but some are complaining that the litmus test on new hires is unfair.
"If you're the best for the job, are they going to hire a nonsmoker who's a little less qualified over a smoker who's more qualified?" said Breeding, 34, who has been using smokeless tobacco since he was 16.
The answer is yes.
City officials defended the anti-smoking measure, which also requires new hires to submit to medical tests at management's discretion to prove they aren't sneaking a smoke on the sly after hours.
"It saves the taxpayers money in the long run, and hopefully it will save some lives," Mayor Glenn Sangiovanni said. "I think as an employer we have this right."
Administrators in the city of 19,000 say refusing to hire tobacco users will hold down the cost of health insurance, which is rising 30 percent a year. City government has about 250 employees.
The policy is patterned after North Miami, which hasn't been able to document any savings from its tobacco ban because the city has since switched from self-insurance to a carrier and no longer has access to previous medical claims. Still, officials have a gut feeling their employees are more productive and take less sick time, said Sue Luglio, the city's personnel administrator.
"We still get plenty of applicants," Luglio said.
Coral Gables and Lighthouse Point have official policies against hiring tobacco users. Gulf Breeze has an unwritten policy against hiring smokers, but officials have bent the rule if the applicant promises to quit, City Manager Buz Eddy said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to $75 billion a year is spent on medical costs attributed to smoking. Another $75 billion is lost mostly because smokers take so much time off, according to the CDC.
"The bottom line is health economists and the surgeon general have endorsed the idea that smokers are costing their employers and the overall economy," said Dr. Terry Pechacek, associate science director for the CDC's Office of Smoking Health.
Two groups with wildly different agendas -- the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Cancer Society -- are critical of St. Cloud's new policy.
Governments don't have the right to regulate other dangerous activities, such as "people who drive race cars, do bungee jumping or are addicted to a dangerously high-fat diet," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
"I think what employers have the right to insist on is the employee to show up to work on time and perform successfully," he said. "There has got to be some remnant of privacy so people have a right to their own life when they're off the job."
American Cancer Society spokeswoman Rachel Tyree called the rule "harsh." She said the group prefers stop-smoking programs to punitive measures.
"It's not as cut-and-dried as 'You can't work because you smoke,'" she said.
State law forbids firefighters from using tobacco, and some cities, including Titusville in Brevard County and Sanford in Seminole, also won't hire police officers who smoke. St. Cloud's more-sweeping policy raises some questions. For example, what about elected officials? After all, they're on the city payroll. No City Council members smoke, but elected officials are exempt, anyway, City Manager Paul Kaskey said. And St. Cloud doesn't intend to fire anybody.
"I would never, never expect the city to say 'You've got 30 days to quit smoking or you're canned,'" council member Mark Rosenbauer said. "That's unfair."
However, the city is offering workshops for employees who want to kick the habit. That proves the matter isn't just about a healthy bank account for government, St. Cloud council member Mickey Hopper said. It's about healthy workers, said Hopper, whose husband, Larry, died at age 47 from smoking-related illnesses after years of tobacco use.
"He tried everything and couldn't quit. I don't want to see anyone else go through that," Hopper said. "It's to help them and help keep our premiums down."
The long-term effect on St. Cloud's insurance rates is yet to be seen. But a review of the Web site insure.com showed a $100,000 20-year term life-insurance policy for a healthy 35-year-old nonsmoker is estimated at $95 to $117 a year. A smoker seeking the same insurance at the same Web site would pay $288 to $308.
Smoking restrictions have long chased puffers from public buildings and corralled them into designated spots. But the St. Cloud policy goes beyond the one in North Miami by requiring employees to stay smoke-free and submit to tests to prove it. The policy in the South Florida city, instituted in 1990, was fought in court for years. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that lower insurance costs outweigh the privacy of workers.
In the private sector, more than 6,000 companies now regulate off-duty smoking, according to ACLU statistics. As with governments, the issue is money. Florida spent $4.6 billion on medical payments related to smoking in 1993, according to a study by the University of California. It also showed the national health-care cost for smoking that year was $72.7 billion.
"The medical costs are clearly huge," said Dorothy Rice, a health economist with the University of California at San Francisco, co-author of the study.
While some businesses hire only nonsmokers, Walt Disney World, Central Florida's biggest employer, and its two largest hospital chains -- Orlando Regional Healthcare System Inc. and Florida Hospital -- aren't among them.
St. Cloud Public Works Director Bob MacKichan, who enjoys an occasional cigar, said some of his best employees use tobacco.
"I just hate that we never would have hired these people," MacKichan said.
April Hunt can be reached at 407-931-5940 or ahunt@orlandosentinel.com. Susan Jacobson can be reached at sjacobson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-931-5946.
OTOH, if I ever work in anyone else's office again, I might take a pay cut just to work in a GUM-FREE environment. That would be worth something to me. To me, nothing's more rude than someone who can't chew with their mouth closed.
Imperial Courts...
Yes...and it's why we're ALL Prisoners in The Village. No escape...ever.
After a while it begins to grow on you. It's all very nice really.
BCNU
prisoner6
Then again, since I have only missed 2-3 days a year (on average) from work due to illness in my 40 years of working, and have been smoking for 43 years...maybe they owe me some money!
Really, I love this stuff.
How does this save money and lives? The tax payer gets a possibly less qualified employee and the person that didn't get the job isn't going to stop smoking. DUH.
A Hillary village.
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