Employer Sued, Twice, Over Testing for Legally Prescribed Drugs

Testing employees for illegal drug use is one thing. But what about testing them for legal prescription drug use? The latter concept has one Tennessee employer in hot water, battling two separate lawsuits in which employees claim they were forced to undergo unlawful drug tests that checked for various prescription medicines such as painkillers.

[itaint dark yet]

Awesome. Hopefully they will succeed. And while they are at it, sue the government for its 72,000 failures to implement drug testing according to its own regulations. Too few enforcement officers is no excuse. If you give the power to employers to drug test employees across the board and to fire them, you better make sure they follow the rules, exactly as you have not been doing, at least not in the 72,000 cases divulged by your director to Congress two years ago. Got that?

The government says to employers in the transportation industry and some others, "test." Follow these published rules and test. When they ignore the rules, what can an employee do? Appeal to the ODAPC. Sure, except they have never enforced a single regulation by a complainant. They are well paid, though, and the perks are out-of-sight. When they do nothing, then what? Go to court? Most lawyers are not familiar with these comprehensive regulations. Your court may say you have no private cause of action, too. What a total disaster except for the filthy neuvo-riche who make billions from this pathetic fiasco.

[Someone]

Some jobs (such as truck drivers) the insurance will not cover the drivers if they are taking drugs whether they are legally perscribed or taken illegally. So the companies test for any and all drugs that may be in the system.

I use to work with a girl who took and still takes hydros ALL the time. She gets them legally from a dr who will give anything to anybody if they ask for it. She takes them because she wants to not because she needs them.

Companies should have the right to not hire druggies - whether they take the drugs legally or not.

[jim]

How many jobs are there that you would not want to work beside someone on pain killers? A lot. They should be allowed to test for anything. If you have a prescription no problem. Maybe?