Employee Drug Testing

An employer must realize that he or she does not have total control over all aspects of an employee drug screening. If the employer wants to have an outside lab test the employee’s urine, then the employer looses the ability to have someone observe the collection of the specimen. No employer can control the amount of time it takes to complete an employee drug screening. In addition, the employer has no control over the skill and precision of the testing laboratory. Carelessness on the part of the laboratory personnel could lead to false results, and that could mean big problems for the employer.

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Are you one of those employers who makes potential employees pee in a cup for a drug analysis before you make them a final job offer? If so, it’s certainly understandable. The employee drug test can make sure you’re not hiring someone with a chronic problem who might drive the company car while under the influence, steal money from clients to support a habit, or represent your company to the community while drunk or high. Those are some of the pros of the employee drug test, but there are cons as well. Read on to learn why you might want to rethink your drug testing policy.
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As the writer of the following article gathered her thoughts on the subject of employee drug testing, she was grateful for the fact that she had officially retired. The writer of the following article had a hidden medical problem that she did not like her employers to know about. In fact she had to design her resume so as to cover-up her periodic need for surgery. Yet until 1984 an employee drug testing program might have uncovered her secret. It might have disclosed to her employer that she was taking an anti-epileptic drug, the result of an incident that had preceded the first operation.
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When employees first objected to employee drug testing, most testing procedures used the urine drug test. Then the employee’s insistence on privacy rights seemed all too obvious. Now, however, more employers are switching to hair or saliva drug tests. Some people may therefore think it is now OK to demand employee drug testing. Such individuals should read the following article. They will then see how other privacy rights might be removed by allowing employers to insist that their employees agree to be tested for drug use, even in cases where there is no reason to suspect that an employee might really be high on drugs.
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Arguments for and against employee drug testing typically focus on the privacy of the tested employees. While the privacy of employees is certainly important, it does not deserve the right to obliterate any efforts made toward an improved employee safety.  Such improved employee safety stands out as being one of the primary reasons for an employee drug testing program. Detection of drug use by an employee can often demonstrate that that employee willfully hampered the proper functioning of his or her body system. Such an employee has obviously chosen to place personal enjoyment before the safety of his or her fellow workers.

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