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Post Info TOPIC: Man Fired for being a smoker.


Seductively Sassy

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Man Fired for being a smoker.


Man Fired For Smoking Sues Company Worker Says He Wants Job Back

POSTED: 6:30 am CST November 30, 2006

E-mail this story | Print this story A Massachusetts lawn care worker who was fired for being a smoker is now firing back.
He's filing a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in Massachusetts.

The case is likely to be watched very closely, because the man was fired not for smoking on the job but for smoking off the job.

Scott Rodrigues, 30, was fired in the fall for failing a drug test administered by his employer, Scotts Lawn Service. The father of a 4-year-old boy, Rodriguez said he was astonished when he was told his employment was being terminated.  don't do anything. I don't drink, I don't do anything. And he goes, 'No, it was for nicotine,' and the room's spinning, basically, I'm going, what? I got tears welling up in my eyes. I go, 'You know, I love this job,'" Rodrigues recalled.

The lawn care company had adopted a new policy of not hiring workers who use tobacco products. The intent is to reduce employee health care costs. The legal question, however, revolves around whether it's discriminatory to fire someone for doing something on their own time that's legal, but against company policy.

"I go look, this isn't right. This is what I do at home. I never smoke in the vehicles. Never smoke in front of people. Never smoke in front of customers. I never smoke at the shop," Rodrigues said.

He said the company offers a smoking cessation program which he had planned to take part in. Now, he just wants his job back.

"Definitely like a chance to work and I really, I'd like for this thing to go away, but I don't want it to go away without everybody being protected," Rodrigues said.

The company said it's simply an economic issue, saying that it's a well-documented fact that smoking employees have more health problems.

**** Now I have heard of a lot of lame things but firing someone because they smoke is......no right, Im sure if this person was SO BAD that they deserved to be fired, they could ahve gotten him on something...anything. so, vote. discuss and tear it to shreads. like the nice people we are.

-- Edited by texaschickeee at 11:16, 2006-11-30

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one hell of a tease.


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Smokers are waste of company productivity time.  If non smokers stood around doing nothing as much as smokers stand around 3 feet outside the door doing nothing, the non smokers would have been fired long ago!  PLUS, they stink!



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Seductively Sassy

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it took yours, good job US.



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one hell of a tease.


Hooker

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It depends on what his job is, and I don't have time to read the story.

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Seductively Sassy

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lawn man

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one hell of a tease.


Toothpick

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Ok, I can say I think this is bullshit for him being fired. He should have been grandfathered in for the smoking bit. Yes the employer has a right NOT to hire anyone that smokes, higher medical cost. What pisses me off!!!!!! Smokers get more breaks, every time you turn around it seems like a team of football players smoking outside the door. And they come in and it stinks. 


Now on the employer stand point, hire all the smokers you want. BUT you only get XXX amount of breaks AND you don't get medical cost. And if you miss work because of medical reasons you have to take vacation time. YOU DON'T GET SICK LEAVE 



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I have seen USofA's big balls

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FIrst, this is about smoking while NOT at work. Second, I am having trouble finding which bill of rights number that anti-smoking because it stinks falls under!



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Toby101 wrote:



Ok, I can say I think this is bullshit for him being fired. He should have been grandfathered in for the smoking bit. Yes the employer has a right NOT to hire anyone that smokes, higher medical cost. What pisses me off!!!!!! Smokers get more breaks, every time you turn around it seems like a team of football players smoking outside the door. And they come in and it stinks. 


Now on the employer stand point, hire all the smokers you want. BUT you only get XXX amount of breaks AND you don't get medical cost. And if you miss work because of medical reasons you have to take vacation time. YOU DON'T GET SICK LEAVE 






  OMG!!!!  OMG!!!!!!!!!!!


Someone mark the calendar!!!



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Toby101 wrote:



Ok, I can say I think this is bullshit for him being fired. He should have been grandfathered in for the smoking bit. Yes the employer has a right NOT to hire anyone that smokes, higher medical cost. What pisses me off!!!!!! Smokers get more breaks, every time you turn around it seems like a team of football players smoking outside the door. And they come in and it stinks. 


Now on the employer stand point, hire all the smokers you want. BUT you only get XXX amount of breaks AND you don't get medical cost. And if you miss work because of medical reasons you have to take vacation time. YOU DON'T GET SICK LEAVE 




RIGHT!!! Because it you break an arm, or pass a stone, or fall and cut yourself open and get stitches, then the company doesn't have to pay!!! Because we all know that a arm does not break with non smokers!!!!! It has to be true because tobys logic says so!

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Toothpick

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eltsacon wrote:



Toby101 wrote:



Ok, I can say I think this is bullshit for him being fired. He should have been grandfathered in for the smoking bit. Yes the employer has a right NOT to hire anyone that smokes, higher medical cost. What pisses me off!!!!!! Smokers get more breaks, every time you turn around it seems like a team of football players smoking outside the door. And they come in and it stinks. 


Now on the employer stand point, hire all the smokers you want. BUT you only get XXX amount of breaks AND you don't get medical cost. And if you miss work because of medical reasons you have to take vacation time. YOU DON'T GET SICK LEAVE 




RIGHT!!! Because it you break an arm, or pass a stone, or fall and cut yourself open and get stitches, then the company doesn't have to pay!!! Because we all know that a arm does not break with non smokers!!!!! It has to be true because tobys logic says so!




Well you have to remmeber, the reason why the arm broke because they lit up while walking and tripped on a stick and looked like a moron.



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I feel entitled, so answer me darnit

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Toby101 wrote:



Ok, I can say I think this is bullshit for him being fired. He should have been grandfathered in for the smoking bit. Yes the employer has a right NOT to hire anyone that smokes, higher medical cost. What pisses me off!!!!!! Smokers get more breaks, every time you turn around it seems like a team of football players smoking outside the door. And they come in and it stinks. 


Now on the employer stand point, hire all the smokers you want. BUT you only get XXX amount of breaks AND you don't get medical cost. And if you miss work because of medical reasons you have to take vacation time. YOU DON'T GET SICK LEAVE 






Nothing said that he was there before the smoking policy was put into effect.


I doubt that a lawn care company full of Breads can pay the medical expenses of their employees on their own, so there is a third party insurance company behind the scenes some where pushing this whole idea. 



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Dumb Ass Sheep!



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Bad Bread!!

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What a load ......


What's next? Will they fire someone because they dont use condoms and are putting themselves at risk for STD's...hmmmmmm......


How about firing someone for being overweight and not taking care of themselves......hell, they might stroke out and have a heart attack. Fire their ass....medical costs and all


I hope the company gets reemed up the ass and has to pay this guy money.


US...regardless of what we think of smokers, there is no reason for that termination.......pure stupidity......


 



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Bread Styx wrote:



What a load ......


What's next? Will they fire someone because they dont use condoms and are putting themselves at risk for STD's...hmmmmmm......


How about firing someone for being overweight and not taking care of themselves......hell, they might stroke out and have a heart attack. Fire their ass....medical costs and all


I hope the company gets reemed up the ass and has to pay this guy money.


US...regardless of what we think of smokers, there is no reason for that termination.......pure stupidity......


 




Thank you BREAD!!!!!! It isn't really about smoking at all, it's about a freedom of choices. They shouldn't be able to tell you not to smoke, drink coffee or soda, eat fast food, or anything else!!!! They are using smoking to get the sheep onboard so they can rip more and more freedom of choice right out of our hands! The day will come that the govt. will decide even te sheep are too stupid to vote and then what????

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USofAcop wrote:



Smokers are waste of company productivity time.  If non smokers stood around doing nothing as much as smokers stand around 3 feet outside the door doing nothing, the non smokers would have been fired long ago!  PLUS, they stink!




And that dumb ass statement is no better than me saying hiring a fag is a company liability because they may sexually harrass a co-worker or bring aids into the work place and kill everyone?! They don't do anything except prance around in their pink dresses and pumps waving their hands in the air??!!! Fire them all and only give straight people jobs!!!!!

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Bad Bread!!

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KatScratch wrote:



Bread Styx wrote:



What a load ......


What's next? Will they fire someone because they dont use condoms and are putting themselves at risk for STD's...hmmmmmm......


How about firing someone for being overweight and not taking care of themselves......hell, they might stroke out and have a heart attack. Fire their ass....medical costs and all


I hope the company gets reemed up the ass and has to pay this guy money.


US...regardless of what we think of smokers, there is no reason for that termination.......pure stupidity......


 




Thank you BREAD!!!!!! It isn't really about smoking at all, it's about a freedom of choices. They shouldn't be able to tell you not to smoke, drink coffee or soda, eat fast food, or anything else!!!! They are using smoking to get the sheep onboard so they can rip more and more freedom of choice right out of our hands! The day will come that the govt. will decide even te sheep are too stupid to vote and then what????




A lot of things are just pissing me off these days....did you read about that woman who was kicked off a freaking Delta airline flight because she was breatsfeeding and refused to cover her breast with a blanket...give me a flippin break....next time a woman wearing a low cut dress walks on a plane I am on; I am complaining that her lack of clothing offends me. We have these fat ass cellulite chunky women wearing clothes that are made for toddlers and a flight attendant is offended by a breastfeeding woman. Jimminy Cricket......in a past case where this happened, nursing mothers had a nurse in...and nursed their babies in from the ticket office...I would have loved to do that.......sit and nurse away in protest.....Hell, I should do it now.....


Oh. I am delirious....



-- Edited by Bread Styx at 12:57, 2006-11-30

-- Edited by Bread Styx at 12:58, 2006-11-30

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Seductively Sassy

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I agree KAt, its just one more way to puinsih you for the choices you make, and notice he didnt do it on the job....he did it OFF COMPANY TIME.


 


Bread, I heard bout the nursing stuff and think it is absloutly a fluke.


Breast feeding is a normal, nature thing and one of the best things a mother can do for her child.


what idiots are just going along not looking at what the real deal iks, take this right...take that right


 


then comes taking chocolate cake with chocolate ffrosting, its too fasting.


 


then comes taking US'a big balls and puting cashews there.....


 


and then comes.......*snicker snicker*



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I feel entitled, so answer me darnit

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KatScratch wrote:



USofAcop wrote:



Smokers are waste of company productivity time.  If non smokers stood around doing nothing as much as smokers stand around 3 feet outside the door doing nothing, the non smokers would have been fired long ago!  PLUS, they stink!





And that dumb ass statement is no better than me saying hiring a fag is a company liability because they may sexually harrass a co-worker or bring aids into the work place and kill everyone?! They don't do anything except prance around in their pink dresses and pumps waving their hands in the air??!!! Fire them all and only give straight people jobs!!!!!




While your little tirade was funny, it has no merit. 


Are you trying to say that employees who go out to smoke several times an hour while the non smokers reamain working, are as productive as the non smokers?


You madam are full of shit!



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All employees within an organization should have the same amount of break time, regardless of whether they smoke or not. How they choose to spend their breaks should be their business, as long as it doesn't violate company policy.

As for the man who was fired, if he accepted that job knowing that being a non-tobacco user was a condition of employment then he should have been fired.

However, if that is not the case then he should be reinstated with back pay.

Also, if the company has a smoking cessation program (as is mentioned), then it follows that they are aware that there are enough smokers within the company to warrant such a program. So on the one hand, they acknowledge and are offering assistance to tobacco-using employees but on the other hand, they're firing them for that very reason? That doesn't make sense.



-- Edited by Buttercup at 13:26, 2006-11-30

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USofAcop wrote:





While your little tirade was funny, it has no merit. 


Are you trying to say that employees who go out to smoke several times an hour while the non smokers reamain working, are as productive as the non smokers?


You madam are full of shit!




It's no different than a woman who works for a company who offers daycare and she goes down to check on her kid and/or breastfeed that kid , or the coffee-aholic that runs to the coffee machine every 20 minutes, or the person with a bladder the size of a pea that is constantly in the bathroom! I smoke at work, in the building and outside the building and I can work circles around any of the yahoo non-smokers we have had here....whether they smoke or not isn't the issue...their ability to work is based on the person, not their choice of smoking, cofee, kids or sexuality!!!! Wake up and take the blinders off...geeze!

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Next thing you know these retarded idiots that light things on fire and suck on them will be saying it is a disease and they are deserving of some type of compensation and are part of protected class for being a smoker!

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It begins........Maybe i should not apply for a job because i have a menstrual cycle and it takes me just a little bit longer in the bathroom.

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Plush wrote:



It begins........Maybe i should not apply for a job because i have a menstrual cycle and it takes me just a little bit longer in the bathroom.




KatScratch wrote:



It's no different than a woman who works for a company who offers daycare and she goes down to check on her kid and/or breastfeed that kid , or the coffee-aholic that runs to the coffee machine every 20 minutes, or the person with a bladder the size of a pea that is constantly in the bathroom!



 


Both are excellent examples of why women should not be in the work place and should be at home doing what women were made for, cleaning and cooking!



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USofAcop wrote:


Plush wrote:



It begins........Maybe i should not apply for a job because i have a menstrual cycle and it takes me just a little bit longer in the bathroom.




KatScratch wrote:



It's no different than a woman who works for a company who offers daycare and she goes down to check on her kid and/or breastfeed that kid , or the coffee-aholic that runs to the coffee machine every 20 minutes, or the person with a bladder the size of a pea that is constantly in the bathroom!



 


Both are excellent examples of why women should not be in the work place and should be at home doing what women were made for, cleaning and cooking!






And you are the perfect example of why fags shouldn't be allowed on forums....they never know when to keep their fucking pie holes shut.

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I feel entitled, so answer me darnit

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Plush wrote:



USofAcop wrote:






Plush wrote:




It begins........Maybe i should not apply for a job because i have a menstrual cycle and it takes me just a little bit longer in the bathroom.









KatScratch wrote:




It's no different than a woman who works for a company who offers daycare and she goes down to check on her kid and/or breastfeed that kid , or the coffee-aholic that runs to the coffee machine every 20 minutes, or the person with a bladder the size of a pea that is constantly in the bathroom!







 



Both are excellent examples of why women should not be in the work place and should be at home doing what women were made for, cleaning and cooking!









And you are the perfect example of why fags shouldn't be allowed on forums....they never know when to keep their fucking pie holes shut.




Cock holster, get it right.



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I will say nothing.



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Make believe Slutty Zombie/Official TOP Drama Queen

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USofAcop wrote:

Plush wrote:



USofAcop wrote:






Plush wrote:




It begins........Maybe i should not apply for a job because i have a menstrual cycle and it takes me just a little bit longer in the bathroom.









KatScratch wrote:




It's no different than a woman who works for a company who offers daycare and she goes down to check on her kid and/or breastfeed that kid , or the coffee-aholic that runs to the coffee machine every 20 minutes, or the person with a bladder the size of a pea that is constantly in the bathroom!







 



Both are excellent examples of why women should not be in the work place and should be at home doing what women were made for, cleaning and cooking!









And you are the perfect example of why fags shouldn't be allowed on forums....they never know when to keep their fucking pie holes shut.




Cock holster, get it right.



Well pardon me.

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Hey public servant!!!! Get me a fucking glass of water and STFU!


And while you are at it.....Quit wasting tax dollars pimpin your ass-socket out on forums!



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I feel entitled, so answer me darnit

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KatScratch wrote:



Hey public servant!!!! Get me a fucking glass of water and STFU!


And while you are at it.....Quit wasting tax dollars pimpin your ass-socket out on forums!






Yeah, ok, you got me there.



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As you wish mam.




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