Except in states where prohibited, employers have the right to require applicants or employees to succumb to a drug test. In fact, it is required for several positions. As stated by Mathis, ?The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 requires government contractors to take steps to eliminate employee drug use? (507). If such employers fail to do so, they would be putting themselves in a position to possibly confuse their contract. The U.S. Department of Transportation also require regular testing of all truck and bus drivers, train crews, mass-transit employees, airline pilots and mechanics,pipeline workers and licensed sailors. The good news is that tobacco and spirits of wine do not qualify as controlled substances under the act, and off-the-job drug use is not included.

There has been a great deal of attention given to employee substance abuse. Employers concerned hither and thither employee substance abuse are concerned because they do not want to see their company suffer. There are several Pros and Cons to discuss encircling substance abuse in the workplace, several which will be touched on later in this paper, but the main concerns include; absenteeism, accident/impair rates, health-care expense, and theft/stratagem. All of which have been seen from employees that use illegal drugs or misuse legal drugs

What kind of drugs are employers looking for in drug tests one might ask. Well, several different ones is the truth. In a standard toxicology screen, any one the urine, hotspur, or hair follicles are tested for each of the following drugs; cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, morphine, phencyclidine, alcohol, benzodiazepines, hydromorphone, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) , propoxyphene, methadone, codeine and barbiturates.

There are several different ways to drug test. Once you decide between hair, urine or blood (urine is most commonly used because it is the most cost effective) they employer needs to decide when they want to drug discriminative characteristic. For example you could have pre-employment testing, what one. means this mix with drugs ground of admission is ordered for your company’s in posse employees. There also is an alcohol test. This drug ordeal is ordered when a supervisor suspects steady the job pure spirit abuse. Routine fitness for what one is bound test is another option. This drug test is ordered to allure place then an employee has to produce a routine physical. Probably the most effective drug test is called ?Random.? This drug test is ordered randomly throughout the year without the employees? knowledge of the specific time or date the test is to be taken. A few others to pick from include, post rehabilitation, meaning the discriminative characteristic is ordered for an employee who had a previous discrepancy with his/her original drug test. Post accident which is commonly seen in hospitals, is a this is ordered following an on the job injury that results in a loss of work time. DOT, which is a drug test ordered for employees regulated under the Department of Transportation. And finally the FAA, ordered for employees who are regulated under the Federal Aviation Administration.

There are independent pros to having drug testing in the workplace concerning the couple employers and employees. The employer benefits on this account that if conducted successful physic testing cuts absenteeism and tardiness. It reduces excessive sick liberty. Drug testing decreases medical cost for the company. The test increases productivity and best of all reduces crime and violence in the workplace.The employee too benefits from successful drug testing. If the employee is not a drug user they will exist assured that a safe and healthy workplace is being provided to them. If they are drug users testing them motivates employees to seek help before it is too not long ago. The tests prevent serious health problems from substance abuse. Finally it has been said that employee drug programs improve self-esteem, confidence and increase moral awareness.

With everything that sounds good in that place are always additional flaws. As far as the topic of drug testing is concerned there are several reasons wherefore not to use such a program. The first on is that deaden with narcotics test are not trustworthy. No. The drug screens used by the agency of most companies are not reliable. These tests yield false positive results at least 10 percent of the particular period, and possibly being of the class who much as 30 percent, of the time. ?Experts concede that the tests are unreliable? (Liberties Union). At a new conference, 120 forensic scientists, including some who worked for manufacturers of put drugs into tests, were asked, “Is there anybody who would subject urine instead of medicine testing if his career, reputation, exemption from restraint. or livelihood depended on it?” Not a single hand was raised. Although more accurate tests are available, they are high-priced and infrequently used. Regardless of the additional costs, even the added accurate tests can product inaccurate results due to laboratory fault. In fact, in survey taken by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a government agency, build that 20 percent of the labs surveyed mistakenly reported the presence of unlawful drugs in drug-free urine samples.

Another con is the more serious drug users may fly under the radar, or get away with mix with drugs use because it can only have being detected for a small amount of time. For example, your employee uses cocaine, heroin, hydromorphone , or codeine they would have had to use in the past 2 days to catch them because those more grave drugs only stay in a persons system for two days. Alcoholics want to be literally drunk at work to be caught because alcohol can only be traced from 3 to 10 hours.

For a final con to drug testing, it has been said that there is no wickedness in physic testing for the cause that innocent people possess nothing to hide. Such a report is higly incorrect. Innocent people do have something to hide, it called their private life. The”right to be left alone” is, in the words of the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” It is unfair to force workers who are not even suspected of using drugs to prove their innocence through a degrading and uncertain procedure that violates personal privacy. The analysis of a person’s urine can disclose many details about that person’s private life other than drug appliance. It can tell some employer whether an employee or job applicant is life treated for a centre of circulation condition, depression, epilepsy or diabetes. It can also reveal whether an employee is pregnant. Drug testing could in act lead to violations of the Civil Rights Act and lead to discrimination for reason undisclosed to the applicant but more than throughly disclosed to the employer.

Depending on the symbol of organization, drug testing programs might have existence completely unnecessary. Unless ordered by the law, drug testing seems to exist more of a waste of time and money than a solution to employee drug use. Having of that kind a program will affect the people of the organization. If they are deaden with narcotics users and are successfully caught it may help them, but if they are guiltless family it may make them feel as allowing that they are not trusted. If an organization does decide to use such a technique I would recommend using the fortuitous drug test because there is a greater chance they will have existence caught if they are users and the innocent employees will not feel as threatened.

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