employment drug testing: wt-----

This highlights an important point, most drug testing is about illegal drugs (or safety). So it isn't, wasn't, just about drug use. It was about engaging in illegal activity, which could be used to influence you. The legalization of MJ on a state level but not on a fed level has complicated the situation. So I would expect policies to eventually catch up, more rapidly once, if, the fed get onboard with legalization.
Next thing you know, they'll legalize being gay!
 
I work for a company that has government contracts. Had to pass background check and drug test. Fine. No beer for a week before the test. Passed urinalysis no problem. Fingerprint check was next. After my BCD from the military years ago, I had a friend work on my fingerprints (tip to third knuckle, all 10 including the sides to each nail) with her rotary tattoo machine and a "shader" needle. Hurt like hell, since it ripped up the skin right down to the epidermis and permanently scarred it. She obviously did a good job. Fingerprint check came back negative. Got the job and been there for a few years now.
 
Who said it was about substance abuse, it about liability. Or because their gov contact requires it.

Well there's "damage on the job". And someone who shows up to work sauced is a far greater liability than a guy that smoked a joint before
he came to work....

The hilarious thing about the stupid f***ing drug tests is a functional alcoholic could come in and "piss clean" (for all the drugs that
offend sensibilities) and still be a huge liability. [rofl]

-Mike
 
What does make sense is "key man" policies for small closely held companies. This cushions the blow, and can prevent the minicorp from being liquidated to pay the decedant's heirs his/her share of equity in the business.

I was covered by one of these after the owner of the small company I ran passed away, and his wife inherited the business I had been running. I agreed to it as long as the policy paid my family the same amount.

One of my friends has a great saying about drug testing and his competitors. " Yeah, they do drug testing. They tried them all, and they liked them"

We used to do pre-employment and random drug testing. With the equipment we use, our insurance company wanted to make sure no one was on drugs.
Made sense to me. But then if an employee popped positive on a random test, we had to pay for drug treatment, and hold his job. So we dropped the random when half the crew popped positive one month. ( oh shit ) Then the insurance company said you only have to drug test if an employee is injured on the job and has to go to the hospital. The problem with that was it didn't tell you if the guy was high when he injured himself, only that he smoked weed within the last month. Then weed became legal.
Now I just ask an applicant, " Can you pass a drug test and background check?" I can usually tell by the response if I should worry. One guy said " You mean right now? How much notice do I get before the test?" One guy actually said " I just got out of prison for narcotics trafficking and murder but I am totally reformed."
 
I think the issue is how many of us had to take/continue to take employment drug tests. I'd love to see these shandards be included with social aid programs. Little section 8 drug test or unemployment drug test....thats the right direction. I've always felt it would be obvious if someone were impaired on the job without invading their privacy.

However, your right to object to a drug test, however your principle arguments misguided. A 4th amendment would require the government tree to force a drug test on you. This is private sector bro, they make the rules.

This is my strongest argument against drug testing in the private sector HIPPA VIOLATION. If my doctor prescribes me medicine, including marijuana, or anxiety meds or depression meds that's none of my employers business. There are private sector protections on medical treatment disclosures. So no I will not give you a cup full of my medical treatment for you to evaluate and hold against me.
 
I was covered by one of these after the owner of the small company I ran passed away, and his wife inherited the business I had been running. I agreed to it as long as the policy paid my family the same amount.

One of my friends has a great saying about drug testing and his competitors. " Yeah, they do drug testing. They tried them all, and they liked them"

We used to do pre-employment and random drug testing. With the equipment we use, our insurance company wanted to make sure no one was on drugs.
Made sense to me. But then if an employee popped positive on a random test, we had to pay for drug treatment, and hold his job. So we dropped the random when half the crew popped positive one month. ( oh shit ) Then the insurance company said you only have to drug test if an employee is injured on the job and has to go to the hospital. The problem with that was it didn't tell you if the guy was high when he injured himself, only that he smoked weed within the last month. Then weed became legal.
Now I just ask an applicant, " Can you pass a drug test and background check?" I can usually tell by the response if I should worry. One guy said " You mean right now? How much notice do I get before the test?" One guy actually said " I just got out of prison for narcotics trafficking and murder but I am totally reformed."
For my applicants I give them the address of the test facility with the offer. They have 48 hours to piss or I throw the app in the trash. I've thrown a few in the trash over the years. Ive had a couple call with excuses as to why they can't take it in 48 hours....I tell them if you want the job you have 48 hours. Period.
 
For my applicants I give them the address of the test facility with the offer. They have 48 hours to piss or I throw the app in the trash. I've thrown a few in the trash over the years. Ive had a couple call with excuses as to why they can't take it in 48 hours....I tell them if you want the job you have 48 hours. Period.
Do they check for alcohol? Can they even test for it in a piss test?
 
We have an initial test to get hired. Beyond that, nothing. If they did random screenings, they would lose 80-90% of their employees.....

Same here. Took a piss test and had a background check done before hire. Been at my current place ~3 years and it still amazes me the amount of people who come back from lunch stoned out of their gourd w/no repercussions. Aside from not being shit-canned for it - one wrong move and they're likely to be squashed between equipment or sliced open by whatever sharp piece of carbide is in the spindle.
 
I find it funny how some people posted about how piss testing "is common" with IT jobs now. Funny because in the past 19 years in IT I've only had a single piss test to get a job. That was the first CONTRACT job I had that started in late 1999. Since then, I've not had a single one.

In my current role, I'm responsible for about 1100 VMware hosts running about 15k VMs (on the team that takes care of this, but I'm one of two in the US for our shift). Even for my previous job (a contract) there was no piss testing done. So to say you have to go through that to get a good position and/or work for a good (or even decent) company is not true.

True. When I'm job searching I get more interview invites than I can handle, so companies with a burdensome drug testing policy (maybe 1 in 10) are the ones that can f*ck off as Step 1 of my decision process. It's a red flag in this day and age.

I did a phone screen today with a company that does pre-hire hair testing for programmers. No thanks, HR lady.
 
Just based upon my guess of marijuana use among my techies, I'd lose 1/2 or more of my staff if I ran drug tests.

What they do outside work is none of my business. If it crosses over to the workplace I have a problem.
 
Awesome, weed out the druggies before the hiring process, if a person refuses the test he/she is not a good hire anyways.
 
Awesome, weed out the druggies before the hiring process, if a person refuses the test he/she is not a good hire anyways.

You ever hear about Wall Street, zboy? You know what those guys do in their fancy boardrooms? They take their balls and they dip them in cocaine and wipe them all over each other
 
Nope just drugs.
Alcohol is a drug.

Alcohol, also known by its chemical name ethanol, is a psychoactive drug that is the active ingredient in drinks such as beer, wine, and distilled spirits (hard liquor). It is one of the oldest and most common recreational substances, causing the characteristic effects of alcohol intoxication ("drunkenness").
 
You ever hear about Wall Street, zboy? You know what those guys do in their fancy boardrooms? They take their balls and they dip them in cocaine and wipe them all over each other
like these types that approve of out side interference with others lifestyles until it happens to them. told one guy who demanded i take a drug test " i will piss in a cup if you slurp it down afterwards". the look on his face: priceless
 
I did a phone screen today with a company that does pre-hire hair testing for programmers. No thanks, HR lady.

[rofl][rofl2]

I guess they really don’t want to fill those open job reqs. Or they don’t mind hiring really lousy programmers. In most locations, decent programmers easily get multiple offers without having to deal with that sort of thing.
 
i won't piss in a cup for anyone. I honestly find that demand to be disgusting and disrespectful. If my accomplishments on my resume and my references aren't enough for you and you want my bodily fluids, you can go f*** yourself. I have no interest in working for someone that disrespectful of boundaries. Really, who the F do you think you are to demand a cup of my piss?

It's one thing if it's a transportation job or machinery job and you have to agree to drug test after an accident, but pre employment screening is bullshit. If you can't tell if someone does drugs by interviewing them several times, then their drug "habit" probably isn't serious enough to be a concern.

These tests are biased against cannabis users as well since a + test could result from use 3 weeks ago, whereas a heroin addict who represents an actual major liability to your company can piss clean in 2 days.
 
Awesome, weed out the druggies before the hiring process, if a person refuses the test he/she is not a good hire anyways.
interesting take on things. I work for a guy who makes $2M a year managing $14 billion of alternative credit assets who smokes weed. Guess he's not smart enough to sweep your floors [laugh]
 
I had a trucking company want to run a credit report on me.... OK the drug test the Feds say I have to take, not a lot of room around that, but I'll be damned if some employer is going to see my credit report, and they were using some outside agency to screen the employees. I gave them a go eff off I'm not letting someone I don't know or have no control over get my personal information as I have no protection against identity theft or theft of any kind.
 
Lol if your a druggie I don't want you near my customers or equipment

What do you consider a druggie? Someone that smokes weed occasionally, or some one who takes drugs not prescribed by a physician?
Some of the older folks have a hard time accepting how common and Harmless (when used in moderation) Marijuana is....Unlike the depiction in Reefer Madness. Don't go to work drunk or high and stay away from the stuff when on the clock and it should be your choice what you choose to do.
I think of a druggie as a meth head, heroin junkie, crackhead ect... or any other user that cant hold a job because the drug controls their life
 
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