Jump to full article: Chicago Tribune, 2008-04-28
Author: Barbara Rose
Intro: Whirlpool's smokers pay $500 a year more for their employer-provided health insurance—a penalty big enough to increase the likelihood of cheating—but how would the company find out? Internet message boards buzzed last week with speculation about spy cameras and company snitches.
But truth sometimes is stranger than fiction. It wasn't management surveillance or finger-pointing co-workers that outed the smokers. It was the employees themselves. . . .
Last month, Whirlpool's suit to overturn the ruling was dismissed in a sealed settlement, setting the stage for rebates.
The suspended workers drew attention to their smoking when they asked for the rebates, prompting the company to check to see whether they had paid the fees. Apparently they hadn't.
Whirlpool declined to comment about what happened. Last week's statement confirming the suspensions said "falsifying company documents is a serious offense" punishable by suspension or termination.
Workers are represented by Local 808 of the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers-Communication Workers of America, but the union also declined to comment. . . .
Now managers and union officials are forced to confront and investigate behavior that nobody wanted to know about. This is an unwelcome job in a factory culture where smoking is tolerated despite corporate prohibitions and society's increasing disapproval.
Jump to full article » |