Centra to implement tobacco-free hiring policy this week [The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.]

Feb. 26--One of the largest employers in Central Virginia, Centra, will implement a tobacco-free hiring policy this week.

The move, effective Thursday, goes a step further than prohibiting smoking on campus. It enables Centra to legally turn away applicants who use tobacco or nicotine products, whether it's in the form of a cigarette, nicotine patch or chewing tobacco.

Centra is now the third major health-care provider in Virginia to institute the policy, following Bon Secours Virginia Health System based in Richmond and Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville. Nationwide, several thousand companies, led largely by health-care providers, have put tobacco-free hiring policies into play.

"I know a lot of local employers are considering policies like this because of all of the health risks associated with tobacco use," said attorney John Falcone, with the firm Petty, Livingston, Dawson & Richards in Lynchburg.

In Virginia, about 1,500 deaths in 2010 were linked directly to smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The agency estimates that, for employers, each smoker costs $1,623 in excess medical expenses and $1,760 in lost productivity each year.

"The tobacco-free hiring policy of a private employer is legal, if done properly," said Falcone, who specializes in employment law.

Only state agencies in Virginia are prohibited from using tobacco as a determinant in the hiring process, according to a state law put in place in 1989. Government agencies also cannot require employees to abstain from tobacco use outside of employment.

The law does not apply to private employers.

Centra will now require applicants to pass a pre-employment health screening. If the screening tests positive for nicotine, their job offer will be rescinded. Centra said it will encourage applicants to stop tobacco use and reapply with the company after six months.

Centra CEO Michael Bryant said the policy is an effort to stabilize health-care costs and promote the health and wellness of employees and those they care for.

Centra is 50 percent owner of Piedmont Community Health Plan, a health insurance provider. Bryant said PCHP played no role in the policy or the decision to implement it.

"As best as we can, we want this to be a positive step to keep people healthy," he said.

The policy affects only new hires. Tobacco users currently employed by Centra will be "grandfathered" in, their employment status unaffected. Bryant said Centra will continue to encourage those employees to quit tobacco use by offering free smoking-cessation programs.

"We are a health-care institution. ... The public expects us to set the tone for demonstrating positive health behaviors that lead to a higher quality of life," Bryant said. "I just think that we've acknowledged that this is an opportunity for us to move forward and it's the right thing to do."

While there is no legal remedy for rescinding such a policy, Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia, said there are good reasons to oppose it.

"It's an issue of lifestyle discrimination," he said. "The ACLU believes that employees, in their private lives, should be able to engage in legal activities that do not affect their on-the-job performance."

Willis said smoking, like drinking alcohol or skiing, is a personal choice. Employers should not have a right to dictate what employees do outside of the workplace.

"Once employers begin to control legal activities outside the workplace, there could be almost no end," said Willis. He wonders if the policy could lead to employers having the legal authority to limit employees' intake of alcohol or trans-fats, for example, in the name of health.

Also, he said, the policy could lead to employers missing out on quality employees who refuse to support an employer that infringes on their legal right to smoke.

But Kim Coleman of Bon Secours Virginia Health System said the policy shift has had a different impact altogether. All of Bon Secours Virginia's campuses went smoke-free in 2009, and in 2011 the company issued a tobacco-free hiring policy. Bon Secours recently issued a health assessment and learned that since 2009, more than 300 employees have quit using tobacco.

"One of the things that we did not anticipate is that we have had a tremendous amount of feedback from applicants. They are applying because we are tobacco-free," said Coleman, Bon Secours' administrative director talent acquisition.

"Overwhelmingly the response has been, 'That's why I chose to apply' or, 'I needed to quit and this is what helped me quit,'" said Coleman. "It has not impacted our ability to recruit and hire top talent."

Coleman said it is too early to determine if the policy will have an impact on health-care costs, but regardless, the agency is happy with the change.

In 2010, about a year before Bon Secours made the change, Martha Jefferson Hospital, a faith-based system in Charlottesville, put a tobacco-free hiring policy in place. A spokeswoman said the hospital screens all potential hires for drugs, including nicotine; those who test positive for nicotine have their job offer rescinded but can re-apply in six months. The hospital has not released any measurable outcomes concerning the policy.

This is, at least, the second go-round for the tobacco-free hiring lobby.

Smoking and other lifestyle choices were targeted by employers about a decade ago as a means to manage or bring down health-care costs. Most of those attempts failed to catch on, though, in part because the policy was seen as difficult to implement and monitor.

Bryant is relying on the honor system to monitor the new Centra policy. He is confident that once a non-smoker is hired, they are unlikely to pick up the habit while working at Centra. Research confirms that adults who don't use tobacco products are unlikely to start later in life.

Jan Walker, vice president of human resources for Centra, said the company will not do random drug testing. The only way Centra will know if an employee has taken up tobacco use is if they are involved in a workplace accident. Following accidents, everyone involved undergoes a drug test to help determine the cause of the accident.

An employee who tests positive for tobacco use will be enrolled in a smoking-cessation program at no cost, said Walker.

"The spirit of the policy is really to set the right example as a wellness industry," said Walker, adding that it was not designed to be punitive. In keeping with that, she said applicants stymied by the tobacco test will receive encouragement from Centra to discontinue their tobacco use and re-apply.

Centra's policy is built off of Bryant's previous experience at Methodist Health Services in Illinois, where he previously served as CEO. In collaboration with two other health-care providers in the region, Methodist implemented a tobacco-free hiring policy. When asked about the implementation and outcomes of the policy, Methodist spokespeople declined to comment, citing a difference between state laws.

Bryant said he believes the policy will have a positive effect on Centra's health-care costs, but not immediately. He points to numerous studies revealing how smoking adds to rising health-care costs as proof. Implementation costs are expected to be marginal; Centra already has more than a dozen pre-employment drug screens and a nicotine screen will be added to the mix.

"I think that Centra is taking the lead in this particular area, but I do believe other businesses in and out of health care are going to be considering this policy," said Bryant.

Locally, several companies -- including Genworth Financial and Babcock & Wilcox, have taken measures to motivate individuals to quite smoking, but none make it a condition of employment.

"Genworth does not allow tobacco use of any kind on our campuses," said Tom Topinka, spokesperson for Genworth Financial, which employs more than 1,000 people in Lynchburg. "Tobacco users also risk not achieving Genworth's full healthy living subsidy, which can reduce health-care premiums by 20 percent."

Genworth, like Babcock & Wilcox, offers free smoking-cessation aids to those trying to quit.

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