AN AFTER-HOURS LIFESTYLE CAN MESS UP YOUR STYLE AT WORK

Watch what you do after you get off work: your employer may also be
watching - and fire you for it, even if it's legal.

In states that have no lifestyle protection laws, "Your company can use
what you do on your own time to determine how well you perform your job,"
warned Jeffrey Bernbach, an attorney in New York City who specializes in
workplace law.

"Only three states - New York, North Dakota and Colorado - have statutes
protecting employees from job discrimination based on any legal activity
they choose to engage in after work," Bernbach pointed out.

In half the states, he added, the only protected after-hours activity an
employee can engage in is smoking.

In his just-published "Job Discrimination II" (Voire Dire Press), Bernbach
writes that an employer might terminate you for such offenses as "drinking
six martinis before dinner or riding your Harley-Davidson or taking herbal
medications for your arthritis, which may label you as a 'health nut,' or
even seeking counseling to get through a bad relationship, divorce, or the
death of a loved one.

"If your company doesn't approve of your lifestyle, your job may be in
jeopardy," he said.

"The best data we've got indicates that at least 6,000 companies
discriminate against people who smoke off duty," said Lewis Maltby,
director of the workplace rights office of the American Civil Libverties
Union in Princeton, N.J.

"You can't work at CNN (Cable News Network) if you smoke off duty, and
there are some companies that discriminate against off-duty drinking,"
Maltby continued.

"When you sign up as an (CNN) employee, you sign a paper saying that you
won't smoke," confirmed an official of Turner Broadcasting System Inc.,
Atlanta, which operates CNN.

He also said that no one has been fired as a result of this policy, and
that certain states like New York have anti-discrimination laws that negate
such policies.

"Smoking, drinking, riding a motorcycle or having any hobby that the
company presumes is risky - such as skiing or scuba-diving - have their
risks, but is it your boss's business?" Maltby asked.

In one Indiana case, he said, a hard-working machinist and model employee
stopped off at a bar one Friday night after work for a couple of beers and
his employer fired him.

The firing was legal because the company had a written policy against
off-duty drinking.

"Smoking marijuana (off-duty hours) will definitely get you in trouble,"
Maltby added. He noted that "80 percent of the 'Fortune 1000' companies now
have a drug testing program and if you're smoking (marijuana) on weekends,
there's a good chance it can cost you your job."

"There are people who have been fired because of off-duty sex life,
including women cops who have posed for centerfolds. And if you're gay, it
can cost you your job in a heartbeat if anybody finds out about it," Maltby
said.

According to Bernbach, some biased employers, who can't fire employees for
their race or nationality, use their after-hours conduct as an excuse to
terminate them.

"Off-the-job surveillance has become more prevalent as employers look for
tools to get rid of people without running afoul of the anti-discrimination
laws," Bernbach said.

If employers seek to discriminate against you because you are a member of a
minority group or are over 50 years of age, he said, the employers could
say, "We did it because the individual is a known drug abuser."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski