Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991 TAG: 9103050364
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sgt. Dennis Murphy, also a longtime smoker, hasn't had a cigarette in four days. "Promotions are coming up," he said.
By June 28, Salem police officers and firefighters will have to follow their example and give up cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and snuff - or risk losing their jobs.
The deadline for them to stop using tobacco products - even on their own time - was set in a policy issued last week by city officials. And it's being met by some with grudging acceptance.
"We get paid to do what we're told, but I don't think anybody's happy about it," said Detective Sgt. Mick Reed.
"I'll have trouble, but I'll do it," said John Morris, a senior fire apparatus mechanic who has used smokeless tobacco for 15 years. "What else can you do? It's really being shoved down our throat."
City Manager Randy Smith said Monday that the new policy is designed to protect employees who are covered under the presumptive-law section of the state workman's compensation law.
According to that section, police officers and firefighters who develop hypertension or heart disease are presumed to have developed the ailment from their job unless there is evidence to the contrary, Smith said. For firefighters, the list of ailments also includes respiratory difficulties.
Because of the evidence linking tobacco use to those diseases, police officers or firefighters who are heavy tobacco users could risk losing their workman's compensation benefits for those diseases, Smith said.
Although protecting employees' benefits is the primary reason for the policy, city officials also want their employees to be healthy, Smith said.
"We push physical fitness - especially for public-safety people. . . . It seems rather counterproductive to stress that and allow such a destructive habit to continue."
Police officers and firefighters have unique jobs that require an unusual amount of physical fitness, he said. Police officers might have to chase a suspect and firefighters might be called on for extraordinary feats of strength, he said. "You start out at a disadvantage if you're a heavy smoker."
The new rule is just another of several anti-smoking measures the city has enacted, Smith said.
"I don't think this should come as a surprise to anyone," he said.
In the past several years, city officials have limited smoking in city buildings, abolished tobacco use in city vehicles and, as a condition of employment, have required new police officers and firefighters to sign pledges stating that they will not use tobacco, he said.
Now, all police officers and firefighters will have to sign similar pledges or risk losing their jobs, Smith said. But, he said, he doesn't expect the question of termination to come up because the employees are being given several months to quit.
"I would hate to think that habit is so important they'd lose their job over it," he said.
Similar policies have been enacted elsewhere in the state and have withstood court challenge, he said.
Several city employees who smoke said Monday that they were not happy with the policy. But they said they planned to quit using tobacco by the deadline.
Quitting smoking "is not that easy; I've tried before," Reed said. "In order to quit smoking, you have to want to quit. It's a lot easier to quit if you want to quit and are not forced to quit."
Reed said he's planning to quit - "I'll be able to do it." But, he said, "I resent how it was done. We get paid to do a job and at the same time, recognize people's right to privacy. Now our employer's telling us what we can and can't do in the privacy of our home."
Morris, the fire apparatus mechanic, said, "I'm not happy about it. I told the fire chief that myself. I also told him I'm not going to lose my job over it."
Other tobacco users in the Fire Department are "pretty upset" about the policy, but most have accepted it and have set dates to stop, he said.
"I feel like it's a violation of personal rights. . . . I don't cotton to having someone telling me what I can and can't do. But I'm not going to take legal action. . . . There may be some that fight it, but I'm not going to be one of them."
Gwaltney said he is in the awkward position of being a smoker and being an administrator who must enforce the new policy.
"As a smoker, I don't like it. But I will adhere to the rule and I will enforce it vigorously as an administrator."
Murphy said that he did not agree with the way the policy was imposed on employees. "But at the same time, I was smoking too much. I needed to quit. So, I said, `Why not?' "
"I have compassion for them," Police Chief Harry Haskins said. "We're trying to help them in any way we can."
Haskins said that the city will pay tuition for employees who successfully complete a stop-smoking course offered by the American Lung Association.
by CNB