- April 23, 2024
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Newly hired Flagler County employees will have to take and pass a nicotine test before starting work, effective Oct. 1.
In an effort to improve employee health and decrease health insurance costs, the county will no longer hire tobacco users, a decision that was made in a unanimous vote during a Monday meeting of the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners.
The policy change will not affect current county employees, though the county offers and encourages the use of tobacco cessation programs, which are offered at no cost to its employees.
Under the new policy, nicotine testing will become part of the pre-employment screening process. Job candidates who test positive for nicotine will not be considered for a job with the county for a 12-month period following the test.
The tests will cost the county $5 each, a cost that will be added to the pre-employment drug screen budget.
After October, newly hired employees will have to sign an affidavit stating that they are not active smokers, said Joe Mayer, community services director for the county.
People who live with tobacco users will not test positive for nicotine, said Theresa Williams, a tobacco prevention specialist for the Flagler County Health Department, because nicotine is among the chemicals that are quickest to leave a person’s body.
“But it’s also one of the most deadly,” Williams added.
Williams also said that anyone who is not using tobacco products but who is currently using tobacco cessation products like nicotine gum or patches shouldn’t test positive for nicotine, either, because those products use low levels of nicotine and contain none of the other chemicals found in tobacco.
The legality of policies like this one have been debated in state supreme courts — most notably, in Ohio — but have been upheld as permissible.
Mayer said that some people will be taken on a case-by-case basis if, for example, they are in the process of quitting.
“We aren’t trying to beat people over the head; we just want to help them be healthier,” he said.
