Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on March 27, 2007, to prohibit an employer with more than 50 workers from having a policy against employing an individual on the basis of certain conduct by the individual during nonworking hours. Bills like this were first introduced in 2005 after the Weyco company fired several employees who refused to comply with company policy prohibiting the employment of smokers

The vote was 63 in favor, 45 opposed and 2 not voting

(House Roll Call 392 at House Journal 47)

Click here to view bill details.

This bill soumds great employer should not be able to infringe so deeply on our personal life.I mean it's like if you work for them they own you.

if it doesn't hurt your job performance then it is none of your employers business. This weyco guy is a total control freak. He uses the excuse that smokers cost him more for health insurance but that is a bunch of hooey. Smokers, if they do get sick tend to be gone rather quickly. If he wants to save money he should fire all the diabetics, they cost lots of money in health care and linger forever.

Pot smokers test positive for a month after they smoke pot yet it has no effect on their work performance. Will this outlaw drug testing or just things that legislators pick and choose. Frankly, I wouldn't work for a company that told me how to run my private life. However, we don't need another law to "protect" us from employers, we have the free choice to change jobs (for now).

??? And they should stop smoking. It stinks, they are always sneaking off for a smoke. It happens. Decreases productivity.

Chubbies are always sneaking off to the candy machine. They are also late all the time cause they move so slow. And don't even get me started about how many times they go to the doctor... Fire All The Chubbies Now! Better yet, lets just let the government nannies send them off to a reeducation camp. You control freaks disgust me.

This issue seems to largely surround "smokers" and an employment policy regarding this particularly bad habit. My employees are told they can smoke all they want on off duty hours, and on their breaks and lunches during the workk day, but what they CANNOT do is come to work SMELLING like smoke, any more than I would let them come into the office smelling like dead fish if their habit of choice was to roll around on the beach during their lunch hour. So far, they have not figure out how to continue smoking and not smell like they smoke. They have a right to smoke if they choose, but they do NOT have a right to work at my business.

discriminate against people that are fat or don't bathe? Most people would rather sit next to a smoker than an obese stanky person, or even a skinny person that smells like a sewer. How about sitting next to a person that has a lifestyle that puts them at risk for aids? I would rather sit next to a smoker than a homosexual that has a cold and is sneezing on me. Where does it end? You can run your little concentration camp as you see fit but don't ask the government to enforce your silly little laws.

I've become increasingly alarmed with this tendancy for employers to behave as if they OWN their employees! I believe government has allowed this to happen and it is up to government, as representative of the People, to bring this to a screaching halt. To quote Mussolini,"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." Only when both corporations and State respect the personal boundaries of citizens can those citizens be truely free. Unfortunately, the situation has progressed to the point where laws must be in place to protect the citizens from over-zealous employers, insurers and just plain nosy folk who feel they have a right to dictate to others due to their own personal convictions. Since no one appears to understand the term freedom anymore, perhaps government must re-introduce the current generations to an old, time-honored concept in the USA. (a novel concept, I'm sure).

"Since no one appears to understand the term freedom anymore, perhaps government must re-introduce the current generations to an old, time-honored concept in the USA." The government has spent the better part of two generations getting rid of that pesky freedom thing. Look in your kids history book and find something about liberty, freedom, rights etc. The schools are the governments hit men. The business world is just starting to catch up and I hope that this will wake up the government dependant sheeple.

You miss the point. You are free to work wherever you want and employers never hold a gun to your head and tell you what to do. Government, by its nature always holds a gun to your head to tell you what to do. I would never work for someone who told me what to do on my own time, I would CHOOSE to change jobs. The constant intervention and regulation of business in this country is killing our economy. Jobs are going overseas not because evil businesses want to source labor from India, but because they are forced to in order to SURVIVE and employ the remaining people they have in the US. I really don't think any of you pro-regulation fools have any idea what it is like to comply to all the regulations imposed on most businesses. In fact, I would say that most businesses are in violation, not because they choose to be, but because they simply cannot figure out what it takes to comply with all of this BS. The end result is that the government controls the businesses but the owners own the risk. More and more owners will simply cash out and say it isn't worth the risk. They walk away with their capital and their employees no longer have jobs. The unintended consequences are staggering. You just don't get it, business is good not evil. Business provides EVERYTHING. Government provides NOTHING.

Workers need this. Employers are forcing people to join their churches, telling they can't have french fries or burgers and fats. Chopping bonuses for not being "compliant" Firing people for bad body mass indexes.

Employers aren't forcing anyone to do anything, only the government can do that. Employers are setting conditions of employment that you may deem unreasonable so you may choose to work elsewhere.

Does this actually have a chance of becoming law?

they don't come for something you do next.......

"Pot smokers test positive for a month after they smoke pot yet it has no effect on their work performance" No effect on their performance? Have you ever worked with a pot smoking sloth? They move like turtles and always end up fat from the munchies.

sloths always end up sticking their hands into machinery, so do the drunks, and the druggies. so, you would take away the right of people to hire them with a single stroke of a pen. you would take away the CHOICE of employers, only allowing them to hire fit, healthy, non smoking, non drinking, non drug taking people into their company. let the employer make that kind of decision. they are quite capable of doing that without the state's help. i'm sure that the state has some VESTED INTEREST that compells them to investigate everyone's home activities, to see what they do in the privacy of their own homes, and i'm sure that you already let them know how many packs of cigarettes you smoke a day, how much alcohol a day you consume, and how many grams of whatever drug it is you take. that includes sugar and trans fatty acids. it's none of the governments business what is done by an individual in the privacy of his own home. it's none of the boss' business either.

Hats off to employers who are getting tough on smoking. Cig stench is just as bad as body odor (ok maybe not quite that bad but close anyway). Smokers need to realize one simple fact - they stink. Smoking is unprofessional and workers need to understand that employers have the right to enforce professional conduct at all times during the work day. It's a pretty basic concept, if you smell like smoke - you are sent home. You may return to work after you clean up. Three strikes - your out!

Hats off to employers who are getting tough on smoking. Cig stench is just as bad as body odor (ok maybe not quite that bad but close anyway). Smokers need to realize one simple fact - they stink. Smoking is unprofessional and workers need to understand that employers have the right to enforce professional conduct at all times during the work day. It's a pretty basic concept, if you smell like smoke - you are sent home. You may return to work after you clean up. Three strikes - your out!

noone can tell me what i can do in my home, if i smell of smoke pay for the dry cleaning bill.

the place where i work has now installed cameras, so they watch every move you make. Now we can't smoke on the grounds O.K. it's there place so no smoking at work, but if you smell of smoke they write yo up, give me a break. Is there nothing more importatnt to do at this place of employment LIKE, worry about patients? I guess not, my employer is sooo focused on what the employees are doing at all times I think they forgot what we are at work for LIKE patient care!

control freak and should seek help for your problem. It ain't all about you princess, regardless of what your mommy or the indoctrination centers taught you. Get a life. I want to be able to send you home for that hygene problem. Then I'll fire you...Hehehe this is fun.

Anonymous Citizen posts: “You Are A Psycho control freak and should seek help for your problem. It ain't all about you princess, regardless of what your mommy or the indoctrination centers taught you. Get a life. I want to be able to send you home for that hygene problem. Then I'll fire you...Hehehe this is fun.” The irony of the pot calling the kettle “black” here is palpable.

What about employees who reek of their favorite perfume that they love and no one else does?