Did You Know that You Can Be Legally Fired for Lifestyle Choices?

Employees Have Been Fired for What They Do on Their Own Time and Away from the Workplace

Beware. Big Brother is watching and he doesn’t get his paycheck just from the government. The 60 Minutes broadcast Sunday, July 16, 2006 featured an interview with the CEO of some company called Weyco as he spat out 19th century economic theories as if they still applied. Weyco not too long ago instituted a policy of firing anyone who smokes. Not anyone who smokes on job, mind you, but anyone who smokes.

Anywhere.

Anytime.

When the 60 Minutes reporter brought up the idea that this kind of intrusion into the private lives of employees smacked of Big Brother, the CEO responded: “Maybe Big Brother should be watching because we have to eliminate that problem.”

If those words don’t send chill down your spine, then maybe these will. In most states it is perfectly legal for most employers to fire you for something you do in your private life. Let me repeat that: Most employers in America have the legal right to fire you for something you do while off the clock, out of the office and on your own time behind your own closed doors. It’s not bad enough that Pres. Bush is spying on every aspect of your lives, now we have to fear that Big Brother works alongside us. Yes, Big Brother is alive and living well inside the executive suite.

The justification at Weyco for their policy of firing people who smoke at home is that smoking increases health care costs. Big Brother has ties to the health care industry. Big Surprise. Smoking does raise health care costs, but so does eating a high fat diet, riding motorcycles without a helmet, and going to the beach without sunscreen. If Weyco can legally fire their employees for smoking, what’s to stop Weyco or any other employer from regulating the private lifestyles of their employees?