Drug Testing Poses Quandary for Employers

[groovedaddy]

LAWRENCEBURG, Tenn. — The news, delivered in a phone call, left Sue Bates aghast: she was losing her job of 22 years after testing positive for a legally prescribed drug.

Her employer, Dura Automotive Systems, had changed the policy at its sprawling plant here to test for certain prescription drugs as well as illicit ones. The medication that Mrs. Bates was taking for back pain — hydrocodone, a narcotic prescribed by her doctor — was among many that the company, which makes car parts, had suddenly deemed unsafe.

“I don’t think it should end the way it did,” said Mrs. Bates, an assembly line worker who has sued Dura for discrimination and invasion of privacy. “You tell somebody you lost your job because you’re on prescription medication and they’re like, ‘Yeah, right.’ ”

Two decades after the Supreme Court first upheld the right to test for drugs in the workplace, Dura’s concern — that employees on certain medications posed a safety hazard — is echoing around the country. The growing reliance of Americans on powerful prescription drugs for pain, anxiety and other maladies suggests that many are reporting to work with potent drugs in their systems, and employers are grappling for ways to address that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/25/us/25drugs.html?th&emc=th

[FBaggins]

1. Sounds like she has a medical condition that keeps her from doing that job.

You can't fire someone for what is essentially a disability.

[Duer 157099]

5. Hah! Yet try to get disability for the same condition!

Catch-22. You're too ill to do the job, but not so ill as to collect disability.

[RKP5637]

2. This is the height of stupidity, or at least a good tie with the rest of the crap today. One more

reason for trying to never work for these ridiculous corps of today... better learning a trade/profession wherein one can be independent from these damn fools.

[EC]

3. How about judging by performance

rather than random testing for substances? I'm sure if someone has a problem from any of the drugs it'll show in performance...if a substance doesn't alter or improves performance it should be left alone...this should never had been legalized, except in cases of driving or dangerous equipment...but testing in retail, office and cleaning is just a waste of money...

[groovedaddy]

4. As well as a tragedy for many people losing their jobs, etc. n.t

[NikRik]

6. Is'nt this a right to privacy issuse also ?

I was under the impression that when being drug tested for a job they are only allowed to report any illegal drugs they find in your system or perscription medication which you do not have a perscription for ? If its not then it should be illegal for them to tell a company you are seeking work with or already work for what persciption medications you may be taking ,you have a right to your personal health issuses not to be disclosed to others or be used against you!
IMHO,NikRik