WORKERS COULD FACE NICOTINE, FAT TESTS

Smokers and fat people send U.S. jobs overseas.

That's scary, but bad health habits produce high labor costs, a condition
that forces some employers to move operations overseas.

Labor costs are much more than hourly wages, annual salaries or commission
rates.

They also include pension benefits and the costs of employee health care,
which is going through the roof for many reasons including the bad habits
of employees.

An employer recently told me he sees the day coming when workers will be
required to take care of their health if they want to keep their jobs. That
means workers will not be permitted to smoke and must keep their weight
within a safe range.

Smoking is a leading preventable cause of debilitating diseases and
premature deaths in the United States. It is estimated by the government
that smoking causes approximately 400,000 preventable deaths each year.

Obesity also kills. The government also reports that the U.S. obesity
epidemic extends from toddlers through adulthood.

Illnesses caused by smoking and obesity not only cost U.S. employers
billions of dollars annually due to lost productivity, they also drive up
the costs of employee health care plans offered by employers.

This double whammy could cause employers to demand that their employees
never smoke and that they stay in good physical condition. To keep their
jobs, employees would have to submit to random nicotine tests and weight
checks.

Workers would raise a stink if their bosses started dictating how they
lived their lives when away from their offices or work sites.

Elected lawmakers would write legislation to prevent employers from
enforcing off-the-job work rules.

Lawyers would sue employers for everything from invasion of privacy to
cruel and unusual punishment.

That does not mean that employers would lose in a showdown over
work-related health rules.

Employers should be able to show how illnesses and disabilities caused by
smoking and obesity jeopardize the health of the company and the jobs of
fellow employees who maintain healthy lifestyles.

They also could argue how it is unfair to force employers to keep on their
payrolls workers whose lifestyle choices make them more expensive to employ
than healthy workers.

At the very least, employers might be able to make a case that they should
be able to determine if their workers are living unhealthy lifestyles and
then raise their health insurance premiums.

Courts have already given employers permission to conduct drug tests of
their employees. Some employers fought for the authority to conduct
employee drug tests based on the arguments that drug users could present an
unsafe work environment, become an unfair additional financial burden and
simply be bad for business.

It's not a stretch to use some of the same arguments and move from drug
testing to nicotine and fat testing.

In 2003, a Michigan company, Weyco Inc., gave its employees a deadline to
quit smoking. Four employees refused to take the required nicotine tests
and left the company.

A Michigan state senator is preparing legislation to prevent such employer
actions against employees who smoke. Similar legislation to protect
off-duty smokers is in force in several states.

That doesn't mean smoker-protection laws can't be overturned, particularly
when lawmakers are confronted with accelerated job losses overseas due to
surging health care costs.