Given the economy and record unemployment rate, employers can afford to be choosy in their hiring practices. In addition to credit checks, drug testing and background investigations, some companies are now conducting nicotine tests on prospective candidates.

Federal law doesn’t protect smokers from discrimination, however 16 states have laws prohibiting employment decisions based on the tobacco habits of a candidate.

In 2008 Caterpillar Inc. banned smoking on its worksite and Whirlpool Corp. fired 39 workers who lied about not smoking to avoid paying an increase in health care premiums, according to Colleen Madden, a researcher at Challenger Gray.

Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., doesn’t hire new employees who use any kind of tobacco products, on or off duty, according to Madden. Nicotine screenings are included with the usual drug screenings.

Sometimes the habit proves a stronger lure: In 2006, Weyco and Scotts Miracle Grow each stopped hiring smokers, and four Weyco workers quit rather than take the mandatory nicotine screening.

The best advice when applying for a job: Be truthful on the job application, even if you’re a smoker.

Source: www.walletpop.com

Wal-mart, considered by some to be practically immune to the recession, has decided to layoff over 11,000 workers at its Sam’s Club member-only discount stores.

Sam’s CEO recently said in a memo that the company contracted with Shopper Events, a third-party marketing company based in Rogers, Ark., to run the Sam’s Club demo program instead of the mostly part-time employees. The company, which employs about 110,000 in its 600 stores, didn’t provide details on cuts at specific stores but said each Sam’s Club store has on average 18 demo associates and two new business membership staffers.

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Source: Business First of Columbus

According to Manpower Inc., U.S. employers indicate the first quarter of 2010 will be a break-even quarter on jobs gained and lost.

Manpower surveyed 28,000 employers. Twelve percent indicated they would add jobs in the first quarter and 12 percent indicated they would reduce staff, Manpower said.

The good news is that the bulk of employers, 73 percent, indicated they would keep staff levels the same.

“A record number of employers plan to keep staff levels stable, which is good for the employed, and an overall positive outlook means expanding opportunities for job seekers,” said Manpower President Jonas Prising.  “Employer uncertainty around hiring is shifting from whether to consider adding staff, to when — and at what rate — to make the investment.”

The survey included employers in a mix of U.S. industries and carried a margin of error of plus and minus 0.49 percentage points, Manpower said.

Source: www.HispanicBusiness.com

Lincoln, NE and Flint, MI have an interesting connection: They are the two cities in the United States with the greatest difference between the number of employers expecting to add workers in the next quarter and how many expect to let them go.  That’s very good news in Lincoln, and very bad news in Flint.

In Lincoln, over 20% of employers plan to hire soon, and only 4% plan to layoff–a net difference of 17 percentage points.  In Flint, where the economy has had an exaggerated impact on unemployment, pretty much the opposite is true – 26% of employers are planning cuts to payroll and 9% are expecting to hire.

Manpower surveyed 28,000 employers across the nation’s 201 metropolitan statistical areas, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. It measured what percentage expect to be hiring in the next quarter, between October and December of this year, what percentage expect to be firing, and then tallied the difference as “net employment outlook.”

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Source: abcnews.com

According to SHRM, approximately 40% of employers use credit checks as part of the background check process.  Although the checks are often conducted on candidates who will be handling money, many employers use credit checks to gauge a prospective employee’s reliability and responsibility.

Joseph Nai of West Springfield, MA, doesn’t think the practice is fair. “I don’t think it’s right, I think your credit shouldn’t have anything to do about going out and getting a job. Some people fall into hard times and their credit goes bad, does that mean they don’t deserve a job?”

Some states agree with Joseph:

• New York State requires that any background check be directly related to the job being sought.
• Legislators in Ohio and Michigan — a state especially hard-hit by unemployment — are weighing bills that bar credit checks altogether from being used as a basis for hiring.
• In July, Hawaii approved a measure that allows employers in that state to review a credit history only after making an offer and requires the credit check to be “directly related” to job qualifications.
• Similarly, in Washington State, there’s been a law on the books since 2007 that mandates credit checks can be done and used only when they are “substantially related” to the job.

The house is currently considering a bill called ‘The Equal Employment for All Act’ that would prohibit the use of consumer credit checks against prospective and current employees for the purposes of making adverse employment decisions.

Source: WWLP.com