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November 9th, 2010
Drug And Alcohol Screening Legal Issues
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Drug and Alcohol Screening Legal Issues.
Drug consumption is a major problem in the United States as also in many other countries. According to the results of reliable surveys, more than 80% of the adults in the US confessed to consuming at least low power drugs like marijuana in their school days. And about 17% confessed to using potent ones like cocaine. Drug tests were instituted to discourage this pervasive evil of drug use. The fear of testing positive in such tests or actually testing positive is known to discourage drug use. However drug and alcohol screening involves many legal issues.
In order to give legal teeth to drug tests, the Drug Free Workplace Act was enacted in 1988. It made drug testing compulsory for public employees. Acknowledging the merit of the act, many other private authorities voluntarily adopted this practice of drug tests. Drug and alcohol use can disturb the tranquility in workplaces and campuses. It can lead to absenteeism, under performance, accidents, aggressive and even violent behavior. Employers and other authorities are therefore perfectly justified in having a drug test in place. So far so good. But then there are a host of legal and other issues are involved.
For one the privacy of the individual is infringed upon at least partially. So long as the employee is efficient and stays out of trouble, his habits are his own. This has also led to a lot of litigation. Employers need to be careful while treading this path. If they fire someone or do not accept him for employment, they are open to be sued if they have not made drug testing a policy in accordance with the existing laws. Furthermore, the procedure of conducting tests should also be in accordance with the law of the land. Then there is the issue of prior intimation before the test. Employees may go to the courts if they are made to undergo a surprise drug test. On the other hand, if they are informed in advance they know how to flush your system for a drug test. So employers need to be careful and conduct such tests only after all the legal formalities are taken care of.
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