Jobs go up in smoke

Various media have reported that a Whirlpool Corp. factory in Evansville, Ind., has suspended 39 workers who signed insurance paperwork claiming they don't use tobacco and then were seen smoking or chewing tobacco on company property. Tobacco users at Whirlpool pay an extra $500 in insurance premiums annually.

A company spokesperson said that the workers were seen by others smoking in designated areas outside the plant and could be fired for lying, pending fact-finding meetings with each worker. The Evansville courierpress.com reported that Whirlpool denied the use of surveillance cameras.

Reportedly, most of those suspended were production employees, but more suspensions could come, possibly including some administrative staff.

Why lie? And if you're going to lie, why run the risk of getting caught red-handed?

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fact sheet updated in November 2007, an estimated 20.8 percent of all adults (45.3 million people) smoke cigarettes in the U.S. Estimates by age are 1824 years (23.9 percent), 2544 years (23.5 percent), 4564 years (21.8 percent), and 65 years or older (10.2 percent). Based on these estimates, it appears that many smokers do quit later in life. Unfortunately, quitting often occurs out of illness-born necessity. For example, my mother, a smoker from the age of 17 (became addicted in college) finally quit when she was in her 60s after too many hospitalizations for pneumonia.

The issue in the Whirlpool case is not smoking. Most companies do not dispute a worker's right to smoke, although there are companies that will not hire smokers. The article "The high cost of smoking" on msn.com cited a Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, which showed that 1 percent of businesses do not hire smokers. Among these entities are Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Michigan; Washington state-based Alaska Airlines; and Union Pacific.

Most companies do dictate whether a worker can smoke on the premises, and if so, where. More and more companies are offering incentives to encourage workers to quit, including funding for approved cessation programs, and according to SHRM, an estimated 5 percent of companies are charging smokers more for health care.

The issue in the Whirlpool situation is lying.

"Falsification of company documents is one of the most serious offenses our employees can commit," said company spokesperson Debby Castrale. "We treat it very seriously."

This is pure conjecture on my part (I'm a nonsmoker), but I feel that some may have lied because they felt that whether they smoked was none of the company's business. Some may have felt they were otherwise healthy and were being penalized unfairly by the added premium. Others may have felt that paying the premium would be a financial hardship. I have an especially hard time validating the latter.

The MSN article documented the personal cost of smoking. "The cost of a pack of cigarettes averages $4.49, including taxes. Using this number, a pack-a-day smoker burns through about $31.43 per week, or $1,635 per year. That's a fat house payment or a nice vacation with the family. A 40-year-old who quits smoking and puts the savings into a 401(k) earning 9 percent a year would have nearly $250,000 by age 70."

Suppose the pack-a-day smoker at Whirlpool quits smoking and socks away the $500 saved by not smoking for 30 years. That"s another $15,000 that could also be earning interest.

Granted, smoking is worth the cost to some. Just how much it will cost these Whirlpool employees remains to be seen. Will it be worth it if they lose their jobs?

Back to the real issue—lying. Abe was on to something: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time—especially when you're blowing smoke.