THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY

A high court in Florida has recently decided that a smoker can have "no legitimate expectation" of the right to privacy. (1) An employer may inquire into whether or not he smokes and may ask: "Are you now or have you ever been a smoker? An employer may demand his employees sign an oath. (2) And if swearing isn't sufficient (after all, one could reason, "People lie, urine can't") then it's perfectly legitimate to sample a smoker's urine. (3) And if that isn't enough, there's anonymous accusations (made famous under McCarthy--and Castro--and Mao) in which the ratters are rewarded and the ratted-on are fired. (4)

(1) Florida, Miami Herald, 6/1/95;
(2) Employees must sign an oath that they do not smoke and, further, haven't smoked in the previous 12 months to be employed by the city of North Miami (St. Petersburg Times, 1/9/96), "Employees hired by CNN must sign an oath that they do not smoke and will not smoke at all while they work for Ted Turner." (Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/3/96); So too at at Lockheed, at its various plants (NY Times, 4/28/94).
(3) A worker in Indiana was fired after nicotine was found in her urine. NY Times 5/8/94.
(4) At Lockheed, "anyone found by a fellow work to be smoking in a bar, restaurant, or elsewhere, could be fired." And indeed, there and elsewhere, smokers have been fired on the basis of tattled tales. (NY Times 4/28/94). The possibilities of using anonymous and often unprovable accusations to advance a hidden agenda ( are you after Melissa's job? Or did Harry flirt with your girl?) are too obvious to mention.

NOTE:

Only about half of America's 50 states have laws to protect smokers from discrimination in hiring. Obviously, they don't include North Miami's Florida, Lockheed's California, or Ted Turner's Georgia. The do include the following:

STATES THAT BAN HIRING DISCRIMINATION FOR "TOBACCO USE."

Arizona
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming