Should companies be allowed to NOT hire Smokers?

It's also against employment laws to exclude one employee from health
insurance while others receive it. Either all don't get health care benefits,
or all do - no exclusions can be made!

True, but it's not illegal to "downsize" them if they get seriously ill.

As a business owner of the very smallest sort (two of us as partners, and that's it), I didn't have to deal with all this, since we chose not to, but am interested.

I'd appreciate not being sarcasticked at until you know me better, tinygiraffe.

HEEVEN: I ran across your post today and I think you need to know that what you questioned (Obese people will not get jobs, regardless of their skill-set or excellent attendance record?) has happened. Prime, INC, CR England, and other trucking companies will not hire you if your BMI (Body mass index) indicates that you are obese or just a little overweight. It does not matter to these companies that a person does not display high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. They just won't hire you. Yep the federal government as well as private businesses are sticking their noses into our private lives and we have no course of action to stop them now. The time for action was way back when states started regulating our smoking by passing laws that the public did not vote on, we should have stood up for our rights as individuals who are capable of making choices.

There's the rub: you are capable of making choices; Therefore, you may choose between smoking cigarettes or remaining employed at that company.