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, "If you don't want to take the test, you can leave," Weyers told
staff. "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. Twenty
workers quit the habit.
Weyers tells clients to quit whining about health care costs and
to "set some expectations; demand some things." Job placement specialist John
Challenger said Weyco's moves could set a precedent for larger companies -- if it survives
potential legal challenges. "Certainly it raises an interesting boundary issue:
rising health care costs and society's aversion to smoking versus privacy and freedom
rights of an individual," Challenger said. So far no legal challenges have been made
to Weyco's policies
