From today’s b, the paper

As Brenda Groft, a 41-year-old from Towson, stepped outside for a cigarette break on a chilly Tuesday morning, she was surprised to learn some employers, such as the Cleveland Clinic and World Health Organization, have stopped offering employment to tobacco users.

“It’s really not fair because nicotine doesn’t really impair my ability to do my job,” said Groft between puffs.

These employers have taken a proactive approach to weeding out tobacco users from their ranks by requiring workers to pass a nicotine test before they’re hired. According to the Cleveland Clinic’s Web site, applicants who test positive for nicotine are referred to a free tobacco cessation program paid for by the clinic. If they successfully give up tobacco in 90 days, they’re encouraged to reapply for the position.

“That’s bulls—,” said Michelle Stevens, 33, of South Baltimore. “I understand insurance being more expensive, but smoking is our own privilege. It’s not illegal. It’s our choice.”

‘Do you smoke?’ may seem like a simple question — one employees who work at local companies like Black & Decker must answer while filling out health insurance paperwork — but for smokers, it is a fairly complex query.

The smoking minority can be honest, check “yes” and pay the tobacco-use fee employers impose to combat rising health insurance premium costs. Or, they can roll the dice, go with “no” and try to keep their smoking preference a secret. If they are caught, though, they could be reprimanded by their employers.

And in some cases, where there is smoke, there may be firings.

That’s the outcome 39 workers at a Whirlpool Corp. factory in Evansville, Ind., face for lying about their smoking habits on health insurance paperwork. The workers, who last week were suspended for their actions, were caught smoking or chewing tobacco on company property after claiming they didn’t use tobacco products.

Black & Decker charges its tobacco- using employees extra — $25 dollars a month — for health insurance benefits. When the change was instituted last year, workers were asked to check a box indicating their smoking preference. Roger Young, Black & Decker’s vice president of investor and media relations, said the company has had few issues with workers who lied about their tobacco habit. “We’ve had discussions with employees but haven’t done anything along those lines [of what Whirlpool did],” said Young.

Some companies that have recently enacted smoker’s fees have reconsidered. Last week, the Tribune Company, the parent company of b, overturned a policy enacted in January that charged an additional smoker’s fee of $100 a month to employees who were receiving health insurance benefits. Tribune, which also provides cessation programs to employees, plans to reimburse the workers who paid the fee.

“The company feels that smoking is something that our employees need to use their own judgment about rather than having the company impose its judgment on them,” said Gary Weitman, Tribune’s vice president of corporate communications.

Tribune now avoids the issue altogether; the company has removed the smoking preference question from its benefits paperwork.

“If they want to increase your insurance because you are a smoker, I see no problem with that,” said Eugene Barabasz, 59, of Mount Vernon, who was smoking outside the Legg Mason building yesterday morning.

Mark Slitt, a spokesman for CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest health care providers, said that even if one of CIGNA’s members lied about his or her tobacco habit and was diagnosed with a life-threatening — and costly — disease like lung cancer, they’d still receive health insurance benefits. “The coverage is the coverage,” said Slitt. Amy Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente, said her company has the same policy, but added that the employer could take action.

Slitt also said more and more employers are offering their workers cessation programs to help improve the health of their employees — and lower health care costs and improve productivity.

George Koodray, a coordinator for the Smoker’s Club, a smoker’s rights group, said smokers and non-smokers have approached him with concerns over what they see as infringments on their freedoms. Koodray suggested there would be a public outcry if employers took a similar approach with workers who had risk factors such as obesity and alcohol use. “They don’t understand the slippery slope that goes with this issue. The question is: after this, what’s next?”

Matt Vensel is a content creator for b. Email him at matt@bthesite.com

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