NationStates Jolt Archive

So I've heard about a few cases where people have been fired for smoking off the clock when they said on their job application they did not smoke. However this is ridiculous.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050613/tc_usatoday/offdutybehaviorcanaffectjob

I know if someone tried to pull that crap on me I'd be on the phone with the ACLU in a second.

Edit: Let's assume for the poll that all the off the clock behavior is legal and does not affect job performance.

So I've heard about a few cases where people have been fired for smoking off the clock when they said on their job application they did not smoke. However this is ridiculous.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050613/tc_usatoday/offdutybehaviorcanaffectjob

I know if someone tried to pull that crap on me I'd be on the phone with the ACLU in a second.

People have got fired for their blogs. This isn't that surprising.

Well Duh! If they lied about something as awful as smoking who knows what else their little smoke filled minds could be lying about!

It is quite silly, But most contracts stipulate that all info given is correct, and any falsification can result in immediate dismissal. Maybe management just didn't like them!

Well Duh! If they lied about something as awful as smoking who knows what else their little smoke filled minds could be lying about!
Lol. I filled out a job app on Saturday and one of the questions was how often I smoked in high school. I was like wtf? I decided they were trying to see how law abiding I was but I haven't been in HS since 2001 so to judge me on what I did 4 years ago is rather ridiculous.

Lol. I filled out a job app on Saturday and one of the questions was how often I smoked in high school. I was like wtf? I decided they were trying to see how law abiding I was but I haven't been in HS since 2001 so to judge me on what I did 4 years ago is rather ridiculous.

????? What kind of job were you applying for?

So I've heard about a few cases where people have been fired for smoking off the clock when they said on their job application they did not smoke. However this is ridiculous.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050613/tc_usatoday/offdutybehaviorcanaffectjob

I know if someone tried to pull that crap on me I'd be on the phone with the ACLU in a second.

Edit: Let's assume for the poll that all the off the clock behavior is legal and does not affect job performance.
I don’t think they should be actively monitored … but is the reason they were fired because they smoked or because they lied on their application

If I found out my employee lied on his app he would be out the door

I seems corporations want to be Big Brother as much as governments do. :mad:

I don’t think they should be actively monitored … but is the reason they were fired because they smoked or because they lied on their application

Are people not allowed to pick up a habit mike smoking after filling in an application form?

Are people not allowed to pick up a habit mike smoking after filling in an application form?

Yes but if you pick up smoking immediatly after you fill out the application its a bit of a surprise!

Are people not allowed to pick up a habit mike smoking after filling in an application form?
That sort of thing would defiantly be taken into consideration as well

????? What kind of job were you applying for?
I was applying at a Payless shoe store for just a general cashier type job. They had a bunch of questions about how I acted in high school and what sort of grades I made and if teachers liked me.

Are people not allowed to pick up a habit mike smoking after filling in an application form?
The lady I referred to in the original post did not smoke. She went to a bar about a year after being hired and was drinking. She decided to borrow a cigarette from her friend and smoke with her beer. One social cigarette with a beer. She was spotted by a co-worker who turned her in.

The lady I referred to in the original post did not smoke. She went to a bar about a year after being hired and was drinking. She decided to borrow a cigarette from her friend and smoke with her beer. One social cigarette with a beer. She was spotted by a co-worker who turned her in.


Riiiight.

I really don't get this. Was there some sort of industrial tribunal she could appeal to for unfair dismissal?

Riiiight.

I really don't get this. Was there some sort of industrial tribunal she could appeal to for unfair dismissal?
I don't really get why you don't get this. It's fairly simple. She probably could have appealed but in her case she did sign a piece of paper saying she did not smoke. The company would have mostly likely won. That one incident does not represent the whole issue though. I am far more concerned with the type of cases listed in the article.

Lol. I filled out a job app on Saturday and one of the questions was how often I smoked in high school. I was like wtf? I decided they were trying to see how law abiding I was but I haven't been in HS since 2001 so to judge me on what I did 4 years ago is rather ridiculous.The lady I referred to in the original post did not smoke. She went to a bar about a year after being hired and was drinking. She decided to borrow a cigarette from her friend and smoke with her beer. One social cigarette with a beer. She was spotted by a co-worker who turned her in.
I don't really get why you don't get this. It's fairly simple. She probably could have appealed but in her case she did sign a piece of paper saying she did not smoke. The company would have mostly likely won..dude...you are not making sense I am far more concerned with the type of cases listed in the article.Yes indeed...You should stick to the YahooNEWS article...because your stories is ...not clear cut ;)

you are not making sense You should be..because your little story is ...smelling funny. :D
Don't believe me. I don't care. About 5 years ago there was a woman on Oprah with a similar story. But whatever.

How about the employer and employee agree on a certain set of rules and codex which has to be revised ever once in a while?

I know that with the spreading of the internet, many businesses first disliked their people using it. If you serve for Pr0n during your work time, big no-no. If you're on eBay to watch the last 10 minutes of your auction, I don't see a problem. On the contrary - it boosts moral. As long as the work effort doesn't suffer, it's okay. If the case is tricky, go find a solution. To fire someone on the spot does not create a healthy working environment.

I don’t think they should be actively monitored … but is the reason they were fired because they smoked or because they lied on their application

If I found out my employee lied on his app he would be out the door

Yeah, but maybe they lied on their app because they knew they wouldn't get the job if they admitted to being a smoker? Thats called discrimination. Its fucking pathetic when a society views smoking as being worse than drinking. The co-worker and employer both derserve to be dropped kicked off of a tall building. Two0faced assholes is what they are.

I smoke, and if a jop application asks me if I smoke, I answer hoenstly. If they won't hire me because of smelly habit, they are most likely the kind of dipsticks I'd never want to work for. What I do when not at work is not the business of my employer. . Fortunately my employers are Lebanese and have much more relaxed attitude towards smoking. They strongly dislike drinking, but as long as the employee isn't intoxicated at work, they don't care. They have sent home people when they had a bad hangover, which is understandable given the at time very dangerous aspect of the work (Foundry+ molten hot metals, deadly toxic finishing chemicals, all kinds of air-powered tools, bandsaws, etc)

Of course, the danger of Silicosis (from the sand used in the moldmaking process) makes smoking during coffee break seem like very minor concern.

I go out and race my car (on a track, in an official sanctioned league) at least once a month. My actions during the race can very well threaten not only my own life, but the lives of others (part of what makes racing so fun, duh) Can my employer hold me accountable for this vis-a-vis my performance at work? NO! Should they even be allowed to? Hell no. Firing a person for smoking smacks of the actions a totolatarian regime would take. I wouldn't just be on the phone to the ACLU if this hapened to me, I'd start a national campaign to eliminate such discrimination and intimidation from the workplace. I'm fairly cerrtain such actions on the part of an employer here in Canada would not be tolerated by the courts.

So I've heard about a few cases where people have been fired for smoking off the clock when they said on their job application they did not smoke. However this is ridiculous.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20050613/tc_usatoday/offdutybehaviorcanaffectjob

I know if someone tried to pull that crap on me I'd be on the phone with the ACLU in a second.

Edit: Let's assume for the poll that all the off the clock behavior is legal and does not affect job performance.
They question may have been asked for health reasons.

However, deven so, if it was off the clock, that is so against a person's civil rights. What they do on their personal time is none of the company's business until it makes them unable to perform or crosses the line and it brought o the workplace in the form of a burden.

It sucks, but the fact is, the US has little in the way of labour rights legislation, certainly compared to Europe. The right legal protection may not exist, although perhaps it may one day be established by precedent.

It's the way it is in the United States. Next time you apply for a job, read the little print at the very end near where you sign your name. It says that both the employer and employee reserve the right to terminate the employment for whatever reason they choose, or even without reason. It sucks, but that's how it is. Employers can fire you for things to do in your off time, so long as it's nothing to do with a protected status, i.e. being black or handicapped.

It sucks, but the fact is, the US has little in the way of labour rights legislation, certainly compared to Europe. The right legal protection may not exist, although perhaps it may one day be established by precedent.

[american 'libertarian']
but the random tyranny of corporations is freedom. restricting said tyranny would be tyranny. we must fight against all opposition to private tyranny. only by privatizing tyranny can we truly be free.
[/american 'libertarian']

If someone lied about smoking on their application, and their benefits from their job include health insurance, a case can be made that the employee committed insurance fraud. The specter of a fraud lawsuit is enough to make many companies drop-kick an employee faster than it takes to sticky note the pink slip on their paperwork.

As to the rest, anyone in America is capable of retaining a lawyer to file a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

It is premised on the health insurance idea, that they can't get coverage if they smoke, so then they can get fired. Seems like bullshit to me, it seems like they could charge the employee the extra that goes with being a smoker, or tell the employee that they are not eligable for the health insurance-but to set the practice of firing people for what they do on thier own time-why is where I spend 40 hours a week allowed to dictate what I do with the other 128? Bullshit. I'm not selling my soul to the company store.

But when there is a job shortage they can be as big a dick as they want-people need work.

[quote=Squirrel Nuts] She was spotted by a co-worker who turned her in.[/url]
That's just dick. It's bad enough that the company is being that overlordish, but that it has little 'Wave' lackies...proving again something I initially laughed at when my friend said it-People can't wait to be Nazis....

As long as the off the clock activity does not directly impact your work, you shouldn't get penalized for it.

So as long as you're not going outside 40 times a day for a smoke instead of working or coming into work consistently hungover (or late/absent due to a night drinking) or coming in inebriated, then what's the harm?

The budwiser guy fired for drinking a coors was especially silly. They're both piss, but coors is slightly better piss than bud *shudders*

For smoking? No. For raping women when your job takes you into peoples homes, yes.

Meh!

That's why you ask about their policies and read the stuff they want you to sign.

If you don't like it, then don't take the job.

Crap policies like the ones mentioned have a habit of disappearing when they can't get "quality" people hired.......