The Michigan company that has advised its employees to stop smoking…isn’t this a violation of the US Constitution (the right to life, liberty, persuit of happiness)?
As such, would the ACLU be amenable to defending the rights of smokers?
I can see banning smoking at work, but to dictate that employees cannot enjoy a LEGALLY PERMITTED activity (i.e. smoking tobacco), seems suspect to me.
I’d appreciate in input from the ACLU.!
The ACLU advocates and intervenes in pursuit of Constitutionally guaranteed rights, with a strong emphasis on First Amendment rights, and to a lesser extent the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth. I might point out that the Constitution itself does not include the “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” phrase, that it only guarantees two of them against being abrogated “without due process of law” (don’t ask; Dewey Cheatem Undhow and I will be arguing for the next 350 posts if you do! ;)) and the third not at all.
Smoking tobacco, like smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol, may be regulated and even barred by act of law. And it could be argued that it’s within the rights of contract for that company to refuse to employ smokers – note that it did not tell them they must quit smoking, but rather that they could not continue to be smokers who were employed by it.
IMO it was an idiotic move on the company’s part, even if you happen to be opposed to smoking for health or moral reasons. But they were within their privileges under law as things currently stand.
I believe these two articles from the ACLU website are appropriate:
Lifestyle Discrimintation
Same date, short Q&A
I just put “smoking” into the search area (there were others); didn’t read the articles myself.
in addition to Polycarp’s point, you also have to remember that the provisions of the Bill of Rights protect you from actions by the federal and state governments. They do not give you any protection from other private parties, like employers. If you’re seeking protection from an employer, you have to look to state or federal law to see if they have passed anything that might apply.
The word “happiness” does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. You’re thinking of the Declaration of Independence. The phrase “life, liberty, or property” appears in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
And even if it did, it might be pretty hard for the ACLU to argue a bit of general rhetoric into a specific protection of smokers’ rights. For discriminatory hiring practices to be illegal, there has to be a law specifically protecting that class from discrimination. Currently, only race, religion, and sex qualify everywhere (I think). In some states, additional classes, such as sexual orientation, are also protected.