LARGO – Largo officials are moving toward being the first of the large municipalities in Pinellas County to establish a tobacco-free hiring policy.
They say that hiring people who don’t smoke is a proactive policy, affecting future medical claims.
“In this day and age when we are looking at managing our health-care claims, we thought that it would be important at this point in time to propose this tobacco-free hiring policy,” said Susan Sinz, Largo human resources director, at a July 6 commission meeting.
She pointed out that smoking causes a loss in employee productivity.
“There are smoke breaks and different rituals that go with smoking that we as an employer of course manage on a daily basis as well,” she said.
In insurance costs, the largest ramification would be upon claims spurred by lung and throat cancers and heart disease. It would not have a direct effect on the city’s upfront costs, Sinz said.
Though the new policy would not affect current employees who use tobacco, city officials would encourage them to stop smoking.
Commissioner Curtis Holmes said “we are going into a personal behavior modification; I’m talking about people on their personal time.”
“Are we going to start addressing let’s say we are not going to hire a diabetic the next time,” Holmes said. “Or are we going to say, ‘you are 20 pounds overweight. We are not going to hire you either because you are a medical risk.’”
Sinz said there are no smokers’ rights under the state and federal government laws.
Holmes replied that the proposed policy is a form of discrimination, and smokers have a right to a job.
Sinz reiterated that the city has “expensive claims experience that we are fielding for this population” and believes that the city could be successful at establishing the policy.
Most commissioners said they were in favor of the policy.
Although Mayor Pat Gerard supported the policy, she said if smokers are taking a break and “nonsmokers don’t feel they are getting the same advantage, that’s really a supervisory issue.”
“They shouldn’t be spending 20 minutes every hour having a cigarette,” she said.
City officials have said the Jan. 5 issue of Corporate Wellness Advisors reported that U.S. businesses are paying an additional $3,391 per smoker per year in direct medical and lost productivity from smoking-related illnesses.
Sinz said the only municipality in the county that has a tobacco-free hiring policy is South Pasadena.
City officials hope to implement the policy Oct. 1. The police and fire-rescue departments have been tobacco-free since 1991.
