TOPIC: Health Insurance in an Unhealty world
BACKGROUND INFO: We live in a world filled with innumerable un-healthy lifestyle practices. It’s an obvious fact that most Americans smoke, drink, or over eat. Likewise, most Americans are employed, thus obtaining money to fund their un-healthy lifestyle.
TOPIC QUESTION: Should companies (either private or public) be allowed to discriminate against potential employees because of their un-healthy lifestyle practices? It was reported last year that the city of Atlantic Beach, Fla. elected to not hire persons who smoke. Do companies have a valid argument when they seek only ‘healthy’ employees?
FORUM RULES: Use real examples and examples from the article to bolster your views. NO RANTS…use FACTS to support your response. If you assert a political, secular or non-secular view…you must SUPPORT with FACTS!!! Keep your response to a minimum of 100 words.
POINT VALUE: A WELL WRITTEN RESPONSE TO THIS FORUM TOPIC IS WORTH 25 POINTS. YOU MUST PUBLISH YOUR RESPONSE ON THIS SITE IN THE CORRECT FORMAT.
FORUM RESPONSE FORMAT: This is the appropriate format for a response to a question in this forum:
Your response.....remember it should be AT LEAST 100 words......and it should be specific and contain some facts.*
First name last name initial (i.e. Larry K.)
*NOTE: PLEASE WRITE YOUR COMMENT IN MICROSOFT WORD FIRST, THEN COPY EDIT (CHECK SPELLING/GRAMMAR), THEN FINALLY COPY AND PASTE IN THE COMMENTS BOX FOR THIS POST.
5 comments:
The question of hiring an “unhealthy” employee depends on how unhealthy the individual may be and also on what the employer thinsk qualifies as unhealthy. There should be some sort of standardization that determines whether someone is unhealthy or not. If someone has a contagious disease, then obviously they shouldn’t be hired, but if it is a minor cold, that shouldn’t really, be a problem. Hiring them could also depend on why they are in this unhealthy condition. If they are unhealthy due to laziness, then it is useless to hire them, but if it is due to financial issues, then that is a different story.
- Shivani K.
Today’s society promotes various activities that may be considered to be “unhealthy.” Smoking, drinking, substance abuse, and over-consumption of fried and fattening foods are among the many “unhealthy” activities. None of these activities are advantageous for an individual’s well-being. Businesses should not hire people with extremely unhealthy lifestyles. Individuals whom smoke and consume fatty foods will certainly have health issues in the future, which may be detrimental to a business. By not hiring the individuals that smoke, drink excessively, etc., Americans will be inspired to improve their unhealthy lifestyles. This will be beneficial towards the individual, the environment, and the work quality produced by employees. If an individual has the excess money to afford cigarettes and quality alcohol, which are rather expensive, he or she clearly does not need a job to earn money to live comfortably. Therefore, businesses should not promote unhealthy lifestyles by hiring those that smoke and frequently consume alcohol.
-Monica H.
I believe that as long as the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle are not distracting at the workplace, those people should be allowed to work wherever they please. Discrimination of any kind is unnecessary and could be the changing opponent in the success of the business. Highly intelligent people who could deliver astonishing innovations could be neglectful of their eating habits and become obese. On records alone (as with the school grading system) the person would be immediately hired; this should not change because of appearance if it does not affect the coworkers, besides on a superficial level. Smoking, however, can effect others without the source knowing about it. If these people refuse to leave the main premises to smoke, they should not be hired.
-Tasha W.
I feel that companies should be allowed to discriminate against potential employees who have health issues. If companies hire employees with health problems, then they would likely have to miss work, or cause the company to have to pay for more insurance because they cannot keep themselves healthy. It would be detrimental for companies to have a significant number of workers who are in poor health. Also, if companies are only hiring employees that have remained healthy, there is a possibility that people would choose to avoid eating unhealthily, smoking, or drinking excessively. If I were an authority of a company, I would not want to hire an unhealthy person, especially if there job required public relations. That would cast a negative image on the company, and I certainly would not want that to occur.
- Ryan F.
To a certain degree companies do have a right to discriminate against unhealthy employers because their employees directly affect the image of the company and the interaction between potential clients. The reputation of the company goes hand in hand with the actions of the employee with the customer; an example would be if a drunken worker came to work dealing with clients. The employee would then damage the company’s image, earning a reputation of having low standards and informality.
This unhealthy habit, like smoking and overeating, does not have to be so extreme as to be kept from being hired. When it is well known from the reputation of the potential worker to be damaging to the company, then the company has every right not to hire the person. In contrast, if the person can keep their unhealthy habits from the workplace, then it should not be taken into account. This can be seen with the teachers that are hired by a school. It might be well known for a teacher to smoke, drink, or overeat, but if they keep a professional appearance at school, the school is not hurt by their unhealthy habits. All in all, it really depends on the individual and the benefits or disadvantages they bring to the work environment.
-Dianne L.
Post a Comment