Drug Screening in the Workplace

• NCJ Number: 111302
• Author(s): W Tomes
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 7 pages
• Corporate Author: University of South Carolina
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Testing for drug use in the workplace presents a classic dilemma: the worker has a right to privacy and the employer has an obligation to maintain a safe and healthy workplace for all employees.

Abstract

The U.S. Government estimates that 66 percent of those entering the workforce have used controlled substances and that 44 percent have used controlled substances in the last year. The use of drugs affects the productivity of workers: they are absent more often than nondrug users; they are sick more often and they have more on-the-job accidents. It is clear that employing drug users costs employer's money. Employers therefore have an economic interest in testing employees for drugs. Private and public sector drug testing is on the rise. The article outlines drug-testing technology, explaining how certain drugs can be detected by urinalysis. The economic costs of drug testing to employers are also discussed, as are the legal constraints for those who would screen public sector employees for drug use. When an employee is screened and found to be a drug user, an employer can take one of several courses of action. By offering to assist the employee in overcoming a drug problem, the employer avoids lawsuits based on invasion of privacy, libel and slander, and wrongful termination of employment. The report provides a model drug-testing program and concludes that drug testing and drug use in the workplace will continue to be problems for private and public sector employers.