How does the insurance company know which employees are smokers? With any job I've had I never had to fill our any sort of questionnaire about health, habits, etc. Do some companies do this?
Of couse this company can crack down on the smokers if they want to, but firing seems a bit extreme, and I'm sure they've lost some good employees. If they don't want to pay the higher premiums for the smokers then they should give the smokers the option of paying the difference. I never really thought about the insurance aspect of it, but I wonder what the productivity of non-smokers is vs. smokers. I've worked with some heavy smokers in the past who have to take so many breaks that I can't imagine they're producing as much as non-smokers. But then again, if somebody wants to screw off at work, they'll find a way whether they smoke or not.
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