Smoking is something that simply can't be avoided in this day and age. Whether it's cigarettes themselves or vapes, it sometimes feels like you can't cross the street without a cloud of something or other clogging you up. But whether you agree or disagree with it, it's that person's right to do so. So it came as a surprise to many when Waffle House received a lawsuit alleging that smoking employees had their rights violated. And the alleged reason why is quite surprising.
As reported by the New York Post, it all stems back to health insurance. A former server, Corkeitha Hicks, raised the alarm about the alleged discriminatory practice in the suit on June 23.
She filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, saying Waffle House had violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
The affidavit says they did this by imposing "tobacco surcharges"; more specifically, without giving employees the opportunity to waive the fees by joining a program to quit smoking.
Waffle House has a program called Quit For Life, but not every employee could complete it by a deadline and had to keep paying the fees.
She alleges the restaurant took out a pretty wild sum of $23 a week. That's equivalent to over $1,100 every year!
Videos by Wide Open Country
The Lawsuit Also Says Waffle House Didn't Tell Employees
But people would have been able to figure that out normally, right? Some commenters have suggested that people who smoke are a higher health risk, and therefore health insurance companies should charge them more.
Hicks said in the affidavit that "Waffle House failed to clearly tell employees in all of its health plan materials" of the quit-smoking program.
She even has argued that the company simply pocketed the extra money, rather than use it for the health plan.
"In sum, these practices demonstrate that Waffle House's wellness program is an unreasonable, revenue-generating scheme disguised as a health initiative," the suit claims.
Whether this suit ends up going south for her or Waffle House, I think one thing remains true: Most customers likely wouldn't enjoy having cigarette smoke on their breakfast.
