Let’s say you’re applying for a new job and have to take a drug test.
The test shows you have used marijuana at some point during the last 30 days.
Thing is, you have spent the last 2 months in the Netherlands where it is, for all practical purposes, legal to smoke marijuana.
Can you be punished / not hired even though you have exhibited no illegal behavior?
My guess that even though it’s “practically” legal, is isn’t actually legal on the books in the Netherlands, so there is no legal out.
Actually, whether the pot smoking was legal or not is irrelevant. With relatively few exceptions, an employer in the U.S. can refuse to hire you for any reason, no matter how stupid or unfair.
Employers can refuse to hire you if you have red hair, if you have a tattoo, or if you had a speeding ticket 23 years ago. It doesn’t matter how irrelevant to the job these factors are.
The exceptions? You can’t be denied employment because you are a member of a protected class, as defined in Federal or state statutes, or local ordinances. Race, religion, gender, age (not absolute) & marital status are some examples of protected classes.
Whether you ingested something like marijuana legally isn’t the question- they piss test you for it because they don’t want potheads running machinery, driving a school bus, flying aircraft and things like that. Too many stupid accidents have ocurred over they years.
Some employers test for nicotine! A condition of employment is that you not use tobacco, on or off the job. So, my guess is regardless of any future legality of various drugs, urinalysis or other tests aren’t going away.
If you are a member of a protected class, I believe the employer could show a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) exists that would prevent you from holding the job. For example, a rape counselling center could show that being a woman is essential to performing the job they are hiring for (hypothetically, to the best of my knowledge). Just one of those little things in the law allowing common sense to prevail where it should.
As for marijuana, as the Netherlands signed the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, they cannot actually legalise marijuana.
I don’t think they’re only concerned with on-the-job performance, though, as the test will detect any marijuana smoked in the past few weeks. Also, I’ve known people who have had to take a pre-employment drug test some time before actually starting work.
Tedster say’s;
Some clarification and a cite, please. I know of no company that claims that drug testing itself has had a positive effect on safety.
This subject has been argued to death here, I know.
Peace,
mangeorge
Tedster say’s;
Some clarification and a cite, please. I know of no company that claims and can show that drug testing itself has had a positive effect on workplace safety.
This subject has been argued to death here, I know.
Peace,
mangeorge
Now how the heck did that happen? Please ignore my first post.
Sorry, folks.
Peace,
mangeorge
In
Another Thread, Tedster writes:
Please name even one town or city in which it is forbidden. Sure, in many places it is forbidden to smoke in public gathering areas such as restaurants or public parks, but I’d like to see some place try to ban cigarettes outright.
I would like to see some statistics on the number of marijuana-related workplace accidents vs. the number of pot smokers in the country and/or number of those who’ve run afoul of employment drug testing.
Bottom line is, you get pissed because of safety and liability concerns. Whether drugs system caused the accident isn’t really the issue here, although several well publicized train, truck, and school bus accidents were later ‘blamed’ on marijuana and are probably responsible for the now ubiquitous drug testing in the workplace.
The United States Army has had a drug testing policy for several years now, if you want me to dig up the data on accident rates since they’ve implemented mandatory testing I can do that. I can tell you they have gone down significantly.
But overall, you’re missing the whole point. Drug testing isn’t going away. The legalization of presently illicit substances won’t change that anyway.
Personally, I’m somewhat comforted by the fact that the Airline pilot isn’t stoned or drunk or having a woodstock flashback whilst on the controls. What people do in their own home may be their business, but when they get out on the road or in the air…
I’m with you there, Tedster. That’s why I support impairment testing in certain cases. The cause of the impairment is irrelevent. I don’t want a fatigued pilot flying my plane, either.
BTW; Please do show evidence that testing has directly lowered the accident rate in the military.
Peace,
mangeorge
Two items:
AFAIK, in the Netherlands, marihuana use is tolerated i.e. not prosecuted, an expedient practice which has been adopted by many EU countries. It’s still illegal, but they treat it like jaywalking is treated in Manhattan. (Basically, they gave up.) We tend to forget that in the 70’s, personal use of cannabis (while illegal) was widely tolerated in the US also.
A drug test attempts to establish that you have taken drugs, where does not matter. As long as you don’t get arrested based on the findings of the test, the complicated legalities are out of the picture. You are refused employment based on the assumption that if you’ve taken illicit substances in the past, you will do so in the future.
We actually had two interns from the Netherlands and they both asked this of our H/R Director.
The form we all filled out asks you to list ALL medications and drugs you have taken in the last 6 months legal or illegal.
Since both put Marijuana down and informed her it was legal. (this is what they told me it was legal) The H/R Director simply said OK if you test positive for that it won’t be counted against you.
The things that confuses me is, we have NEVER had a follow up test. What if I didn’t do drugs and then start doing them after you are hired?
Our H/R Director told me how suprised she is the number of people that fail the test. I mean if you know you do drugs why even go thru the motions of getting it when you know they will catch you.
If is is positive they simply find another reason NOT to hire the person. Your qualifications weren’t what we were looking for etc.
She says they NEVER use the drug test as the OFFICIAL reason.