Dude, Dell Says You Have to Quit Smoking

To the smokers who work for the computer company Dell—get ready for some serious changes. Beginning January 1, smoking will be prohibited at work. Dell’s 28,000 U.S. workers were notified of the new policy earlier this week.

The company says there are two key reasons for banning smoking. For one, it’s in their employees’ best health interest to quit smoking as smoking has been linked to all kinds of deadly health diagnoses. Two, the healthier a company’s workers are, the lower their health care bills are. So everybody wins when people quit smoking. To help its employees kick their nicotine addictions, Dell will provide free smoking cessation programs. In addition, when the ban goes into effect next year, so does a discount on health insurance premiums for all non-smoking workers, regardless of whether they’ve never been a smoker or recently quit smoking.

The article doesn't mention what the consequences are for smoking on Dell property. But the question is, how Dell is getting around certain state’s laws that prohibit employers from hiring or firing workers based on smoking, especially when smoking is still legal? California is one example. Maybe Dell doesn’t have any satellite offices in California?

If you're a Dell worker (or even if you're not!), sign up for our quitting smoking email tips and get a jump start on kicking that habit. [Austin-American Statesman]