How can I find a new job that does NOT require drug testing without cause?
ND¢, another vote for inaccurate. I can tell you that the jobs I held (in both federal and local gov’t) required pre-employment drug checks, AND testing at random – you had to give your permission for random screenings via signed waiver before you were extended a formal offer. Some of the positions weren’t security-sensitive positions either. (They also required a full physical and blood work-up, too, which I found strange since I wasn’t doing any manual labor.) While it may technically be true that the 4th amendment protects you against random gov’t drug tests, my experience is that all it takes is a requirement that you waive that right insofar as the drug testing is concerned.
ND¢ , that is blatantly false. In National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab (1989) the Supreme Court ruled that government employees’ in sensitive positions may be subject to random drug testing and gave government agencies wide latitude to define which employees’ positions are so sensitive as to require drug testing. Federal law has required all government employees to be drug free on and off the job since 1986, and you can be fired with no notice for doing any illegal drug in your free time. As of 2004, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported that all 1.6 million federal employees were eligible to be tested and that SAMSHA tests about 200,000 workers each year. Most state governments have followed the feds’ lead.
Avoid companies that have HR departments all together. Really, drug testing is absurdly prevalent in many mid-sized to largish IT companies for little reason other than the fact that insurance companies and the drug screening industry have teamed up against clueless HR departments to scare them witless about the potential liabilities of hiring “pot fiends.” Shouldn’t this stuff be weeded (heh) out in the interview? I mean, shouldn’t the person conducting the interview be able to tell if someone is a junkie? (Interestingly companies don’t test for alcoholism which I’m sure is the leading cause of the problems they think they are avoiding by having drug testing.) Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve gone on a rant, but this issue really ticks me off. I’ve had to take two or three drug tests in my day and each one has been an invasive hassle. The very idea of pissing in a cup for employment is humiliating and the potential for abuse (covert pregnancy testing, ladies?) is great. I suspect that eventually p
Related Questions
- Are companies allowed or required to require job applicants to undergo mandatory drug testing as part of their requirement? Who will shoulder the expenses?
- How can I find a new job that does NOT require drug testing without cause?
- How do you get experience when most jobs require experience to work there?
