U.S. Company Forces Smokers to Quit
Owner Says Overweight Workers Next to Get Ultimatum
By Andrew Stern, Reuters
CHICAGO (Jan. 26) - The owner of a Michigan company who forced his employees to either quit smoking or quit their jobs said on Wednesday he also wants to tell fat workers to lose weight or else.
A ban on tobacco use -- whether at home or at the workplace -- led four employees to quit their jobs last week at Okemos, Michigan-based Weyco Inc., which handles insurance claims.
The workers refused to take a mandatory urine test demanded of Weyco's 200 employees by founder and sole owner Howard Weyers, a demand that he said was perfectly legal.
"If you don't want to take the test, you can leave," Weyers told Reuters. "I'm not controlling their lives; they have a choice whether they want to work here."
Next on the firing line: overweight workers.
"We have to work on eating habits and getting people to exercise. But if you're obese, you're (legally) protected," Weyers said.
He has brought in an eating disorder therapist to speak to workers, provided eating coaches, created a point system for employees to earn health-related $100 bonuses and plans to offer $45 vouchers for health club memberships.
The 71-year-old Weyers, who said he has never smoked and pronounced himself in good shape thanks to daily runs, said employees' health as well as saving money on the company's own insurance claims led him to first bar smokers from being hired in 2003.
Last year, he banned smoking during office hours, then demanded smokers pay a monthly $50 "assessment," and finally instituted mandatory testing. (End of news story and beginning of my story.)
Okay so I smoke - so sue me. Fumo ergo sum. I choose to smoke I want to smoke I need to smoke and it is nobody's business but mine.
If people like the very-healthy old man Weyers have the right to fire people if they smoke, then I am extremely glad he's now going after the fatties. And when everyone is bone thin, he'll probably go after people who drink alcohol...then maybe he can threaten to fire people who wear perfumes. Maybe next will be hair styles and make-up - I wonder what Weyers likes, lips tinted pigeon-blood red or perhaps just a slight glimmer of lip gloss. Clothing...maybe old man Weyers thinks women should only wear dresses. Hmmm There is no end to who he can threaten to fire!
Now I obviously don't know Weyers, but I can guarantee you that he does something that I don't like or agree with and another thing I promise you -- the prediction of all my predictions is this: He will die no matter how healthy he is.
Weyers seems to be of the mind that if he can only get it right (for himself and for anyone who works for him) he will live forever. Uh un.
Live on bean sprouts and green tea, exercise daily, meditate and get a massage Mr. Wyers, but you are going to die just like me. Maybe I'll live longer, cigarette, potato chips and all. Wouldn't that be a bummer.
Owner Says Overweight Workers Next to Get Ultimatum
By Andrew Stern, Reuters
CHICAGO (Jan. 26) - The owner of a Michigan company who forced his employees to either quit smoking or quit their jobs said on Wednesday he also wants to tell fat workers to lose weight or else.
A ban on tobacco use -- whether at home or at the workplace -- led four employees to quit their jobs last week at Okemos, Michigan-based Weyco Inc., which handles insurance claims.
The workers refused to take a mandatory urine test demanded of Weyco's 200 employees by founder and sole owner Howard Weyers, a demand that he said was perfectly legal.
"If you don't want to take the test, you can leave," Weyers told Reuters. "I'm not controlling their lives; they have a choice whether they want to work here."
Next on the firing line: overweight workers.
"We have to work on eating habits and getting people to exercise. But if you're obese, you're (legally) protected," Weyers said.
He has brought in an eating disorder therapist to speak to workers, provided eating coaches, created a point system for employees to earn health-related $100 bonuses and plans to offer $45 vouchers for health club memberships.
The 71-year-old Weyers, who said he has never smoked and pronounced himself in good shape thanks to daily runs, said employees' health as well as saving money on the company's own insurance claims led him to first bar smokers from being hired in 2003.
Last year, he banned smoking during office hours, then demanded smokers pay a monthly $50 "assessment," and finally instituted mandatory testing. (End of news story and beginning of my story.)
Okay so I smoke - so sue me. Fumo ergo sum. I choose to smoke I want to smoke I need to smoke and it is nobody's business but mine.
If people like the very-healthy old man Weyers have the right to fire people if they smoke, then I am extremely glad he's now going after the fatties. And when everyone is bone thin, he'll probably go after people who drink alcohol...then maybe he can threaten to fire people who wear perfumes. Maybe next will be hair styles and make-up - I wonder what Weyers likes, lips tinted pigeon-blood red or perhaps just a slight glimmer of lip gloss. Clothing...maybe old man Weyers thinks women should only wear dresses. Hmmm There is no end to who he can threaten to fire!
Now I obviously don't know Weyers, but I can guarantee you that he does something that I don't like or agree with and another thing I promise you -- the prediction of all my predictions is this: He will die no matter how healthy he is.
Weyers seems to be of the mind that if he can only get it right (for himself and for anyone who works for him) he will live forever. Uh un.
Live on bean sprouts and green tea, exercise daily, meditate and get a massage Mr. Wyers, but you are going to die just like me. Maybe I'll live longer, cigarette, potato chips and all. Wouldn't that be a bummer.
posted by mary bishop | 7:51 AM
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