Posted on 02/22/2013 8:25:37 PM PST by FreedomStar3028
So I go in for an interview, everything is going good. It was for an IT help desk in an office. The interviewer asks me a lot of questions, and asks do you smoke? I said yes. She immediately says, I can't give you the job then.
This is in Oregon. I looked up laws and there is a statute where companies cannot use smoking as a consideration when hiring, they can only ban smoking at work. Any advice would be great. Thanks!
Ooops, almost forgot. Long time Lurker, looking to meet some new FRiends.
Yeah, but roll your own, and do it all in your underwear.
You told the job interviewer you own guns? Why would you do that? How did the subject even come up?
Well, wearing a shotshell bandolier to the interview has a turn off effect to some.
Do you think the employer should be forced to hire you? What if he did hire you but you didn’t like the job? Should you be allowed to quit?
Having owned my own small business, my feeling is they should be able to hire whoever they want.
So this is your one and only post at FR, an open ended vanity?
I wouldn’t hire you for that fact alone.
Bummer.
It is probably because you are a higher statistical cost liability, both in benefit cost as well as potential lost time for health reasons.
If you had 2 people of equal experience and education applying for a job, both interviewed equally well, but one would cost your company several thousands more in benefit costs, it is logical you would hire the one who didn’t incur the increased expense.
Welcome to FR...
I don’t smoke. Never have. But I detest the demonization of smokers. I hate it. I don’t like the way they have been singled out for vilification. You see them slinking furtively around, now, seemingly ashamed.
And who could blame them?
well if the law says they can’t not hire you because you smoke, from a no-lawyer pov, it seems they just violated the law, and it appears you may have a winning case here, it seems blatant and obvious that as soon as you answered yes, she immediately said we can’t hire you if you smoke, clear causality right there.
it’s not like you would smoke at work anyway. so it hasn’t anything to do with you smoking in a clean room or a patient’s area, etc.
i would sue them. if they are this stupid they deserve it.
luv that!
You still smoke? This isn’t the 70’s anymore. Get Nicorette moron!!!
As stated, I’d let the HR department know what happened - the interviewer should know better. Next time I’d say, I just quit. Leave it at that. I always quit before I enter an office/store/whatever. Start up again when I leave.
The gall of those people to think that they can hire whomever they want for whatever reason. What do they think this is...a free country or something? Report them to the government in hopes of getting them sent to a re-education camp where they can get their minds right!
In Oregon you should have told them you smoked pot, not tobacco.
You’re in Oregon, be aware of the proposed law to (in essence) outlaw smoking. The law would classify cigarettes as a “controlled substance”. That means you cannot get them without a doctor’s prescription. I know, the irony! This is serious, in the legislature.
To pave the way to make it even easier to discriminate against smokers, a year or two past they made a law that anyone filling a prescription for any controlled substance, I mean legitimately rx’d by your medical doctor, the pharmacist reports you to the State and they are now keeping a database of all people who subscribe to Xanax or whatever. Cigs will be added to the list.
Yes, the govt, not just your pharmacy, will have your name, address, phone number, doctor, medical clinic and every single time you fulfill an Rx for cigs. If you exceed the 30-day renewal, I don’t know if State Troopers come out and arrest you or what...?
This seems to be to violate HIPPA, doctor-client privilege with your MD, and doctor-client privilege with your pharmacist... but I guess the needs of Big Brother overrule those notions.
That’s crazy. ALL of our IT guys smoke. It gives them an opportunity to go outside and stand in the sunshine. They go in herds. Those guys are so stressed out all the time. Who am I to criticize? They’ll probably all outlive the rest of us.
i think you ought to be able to hire who you want.
but that doesn’t allow you to violate the law of your state when you do it.
change the hiring laws if you don’t like it.
or be smarter when you tell someone they weren’t hired. it would not have been that hard to tell the guy later that he didn’t make the second round of candidates.
think a little bit.
Oregon? Let's see, how about the following answer: "Yes. Marijuana ONLY!!" Next, you'll hear the following: "You're HIRED!!"
“lost time for health reasons”
Not many smokers that I know are out because of illness due to smoking.
The “protected classes” have as much or more likelyhood of being ill. It’s just that the smokers are EVIL!!!/s
That being said, I think any employer should have the right to hire/not hire a person for any reason. Including those in the “protected classes”.
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