Before you submit to drug testing, know your employee rights.
Workplace safety is important to both employers and staff members, and drug or alcohol use on company time can jeopardize everyone's safety. Mandatory drug testing can sometimes prevent drug-related accidents from occurring; it also help to avoid any lawsuits against the company. Though it varies by state, most employee rights on mandatory drug testing are applied across the country.
Pre-Employment Drug Screening
Unfortunately, you have fewer rights regarding drug testing before entering a company than the actual employees. When applying to a position, you have the right to know prior to hiring that mandatory drug testing is required. By law, your interviewer may not ask you to submit to a drug test before extending an offer to you first. You may be required to pass a drug test as a hiring condition, and the offer may be withdrawn should you fail or refuse the test. Until you have been offered a position within the company, asking you to submit a drug test is prohibited. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), you also have the right to disclose any information regarding medications that have been prescribed to you by a doctor in efforts to legitimize any applicable drug use.
Right To Fairness
If you are the only employee among a staff who is asked to submit to a drug test, you may have the right to refuse based on discrimination. By law, employers are prohibited from drug testing staff members based on looks, race, ethnicity, gender, age or personal characteristics. If drug testing is part of the company policy, all workers must be asked to submit to testing, not just a select few. There are few exceptions to this regulation that require adequate grounds for requesting individualized drugs tests. These exceptions may include restricting drug testing to only personnel who operate dangerous equipment and machinery, or staff members who have been found directly responsible for work related damages or injuries due to negligence.
Rights To Privacy
Whether you submit to a pre-employment drug screening or are a current employee asked to take a drug test, you have the right to do so in private, particularly in the case where a urine sample is required. If the employer or administrator of the test suspects that you may tamper with the specimen, however, the corporation reserves the right to station a member of the same sex in the room with you while you provide your sample. If you produce positive test results, your rights to privacy also require that your employer--or potential employer--keep your information confidential.
Covert Testing Laws
Though urine testing is the most common way to test for drug use in the workplace, some states also allow blood and hair follicle testing. These methods can indicate whether you have used drugs within the past 90 days as opposed to the five day limited accuracy of urine tests. No matter what method of testing your employee administers, you must have full knowledge and have given written consent to be legally drug tested. An employer may not, under any circumstances, conduct any covert methods of drug testing you behind your back. For example, pulling a stray hair from the back of your sweater for drug testing without your knowledge is strictly prohibited in any state.
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