smokers need not apply

An Irish company recruiting for telesales staff has courted controversy by saying in a job advert that “smokers need not apply”.

Dublin-based e-commerce firm Dotcom Directories, which placed the ad in a free newspaper, runs no risk of legal action because a person’s status as a smoker is not categorised as an area of discrimination by the country’s Equality Authority.

Philip Tobin, director of Dotcom, told the Irish Independent: “I would consider smoking as interfering with standards. I’m talking about smoking breaks but not only that “ their smell, their intelligence, their illnesses are all factors. That’s why the line was there. Smokers will not be employed, so there is no point in coming for an interview.”

Interviewed on an Irish radio station, Tobin added that anyone who could continue to smoke despite health warnings was obviously not intelligent enough to work for his company. But smokers’ groups have reacted angrily, accusing him of “health fascism”.

[tags] smoking, people management [/tags]