Bans on smoking in the workplace are fairly widespread these days. Long gone are the days when workers were allowed to smoke indoors, at their desks or in board meetings. And increasingly, companies are either pushing designated smoking areas behind buildings and other places where they can't be easily seen, or banning smoking on the grounds altogether. But things are getting even more bleak for those who enjoy a cigarette to take the edge off: They aren't even getting past the interview stage. Is it workplace discrimination, or is it fully within an employer's right to demand their workers don't light up, whether at work or anywhere else?

Hospitals are the primary employers refusing to hire people whose urine tests show the presence of nicotine, whether it comes from cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or smoking cessation products like patches. The policies are designed to promote health and reduce insurance premiums. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke causes 443,000 premature deaths and costs the nation $193 billion in health bills and lost productivity.

And the bans aren't actually new. Decades ago, several companies adopted smoker-hiring bans. But the tobacco industry and the American Civil Liberties Union lobbied for smokers' rights, and 29 states and Washington, D.C., consequently passed smoker-protection laws. But because smokers aren't a protected class, smoker-free hiring isn't against federal law.

Nevertheless, the hiring policies have raised the ire not just of smokers, but even people in the public health community. Some say the bans are a form of employment discrimination and set a dangerous precedent. Others feel the restrictions simply punish smokers, rather than compel them to quit. After all, if a company won't hire you for being a smoker, why would you try to kick the habit for it? A representative of the American Lung Association says that smoking cessation programs at work would be a better way to get workers to quit.

Would you give up your vices to get a job with a company you wanted to work for, even if you didn't indulge in them while at work? As more of these bans are enacted, it may become a question we'll all have to consider.

Source: USA Today, "Workplaces ban not only smoking, but smokers themselves," Wendy Koch, Jan. 6, 2012