Smoking Can Be Hazardous to Your Career

Mark Sullivan doesn’t understand what difference his status as a smoker makes when applying for a job (“This Teen Won’t Quit,” O.C. Platform, Commentary, Aug. 31).

Perhaps a few facts, compiled by the Orange County Health Care Agency Tobacco Use Prevention Program, will clarify the issue: smoking wastes 6% of an employee’s work time; absenteeism rates are 50% higher for smokers than nonsmokers; compared to nonsmokers, smokers have twice as many job-related injuries and are 50% more likely to use the health care system, leading to increased insurance costs for employers; employers face increasing numbers of disability and workers’ compensation claims due to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

In these times of shrinking profits and skyrocketing health care and insurance costs, it is not surprising that more and more employers are banning smoking in the workplace and, in some cases, refusing to hire smokers.

In 1988, California voters passed Proposition 99, which approved an additional 25 cents per pack tax on cigarettes. Funds generated from this tax are available to community agencies for tobacco education programs through a competitive grant process.

The Youth Employment Service (YES) of the Harbor Area, a private nonprofit agency, has been selected by the California Department of Health Services to receive funds which will enable us to provide our clients--both youth and employers--with information pertaining to the benefits of a smoke-free lifestyle and work environment.

In addition, the funds will enable us to provide practical assistance to interested parties. The goal of YES is to increase each individual’s chances for employment by fostering the traits employers look for in job candidates. Increasingly, being a nonsmoker is one of these traits.

Legislation enacted by the state of California (AB 75) has established a goal of 75% reduction in tobacco consumption by the year 1999.

YES hopes to play a significant role in achieving this goal.

LESLIE BANNIER, Tobacco Project Coordinator, Youth Employment Service of the Harbor Area Inc., Costa Mesa