Let us help by drug screening your applicants and employees

Screening of Applicants or Employees Seeking Promotion.

An employer may prohibit the use of alcohol and illegal drugs at the workplace and may require that employees not be under the influence of either while on the job. Commonly reported negative work behaviors associated with alcohol and drug abuse include excessive absenteeism or tardiness, industrial accidents, work-related injuries, and workplace violence. Pre-employment drug testing has become a generally accepted practice. Most employers can require an applicant, as a condition of hiring, to successfully pass a pre-employment drug screen.1

 

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) place restrictions on the timing of any pre-employment medical examination. You can only require a medical examination after you make an offer of employment and before the beginning of the applicant's duties. However, a test to determine whether an applicant is illegally using drugs is not considered a medical examination. Therefore, if you wish to conduct a drug test even before making a conditional offer of employment to an applicant, that test must be designed to accurately identify illegal drugs and should not be performed in conjunction with any pre-employment physical examination.

The California Supreme Court has addressed the issue of drug testing current employees seeking promotions. In that case, applicants for employment as well as current employees seeking promotions were required to undergo urinalysis testing for drugs and alcohol. The court upheld the portion of the drug testing program requiring applicants to undergo testing, but found the requirement that current employees be tested was unconstitutional.2

 

1. Wilkenson v. Times Mirror Corp., 215 Cal. App. 3d 1934 (1989)

2. Loder v. City of Glendale, 14 Cal. 4th 846 (1997)

 

Current use, possession, or distribution of illicit drugs does not qualify as a "disability" under the ADA. You may prohibit the use of such drugs at the workplace, and you may administer drug tests to applicants and employees alike. You may deny employment to an applicant and discipline or discharge an employee currently engaged in illegal drug use. However, you may not discriminate against a former drug addict who has successfully undergone rehabilitation and does not currently use illicit drugs.

If your organization is in the public sector, federal courts have generally upheld the use of random drug tests only when applied to safety-sensitive positions. This federal restriction does not apply if you are a private employer. However, state or local laws and collective bargaining agreements pertaining to drug testing may impose restrictions on your drug testing policy.

Under the ADA, a test for the illegal use of drugs is not considered a medical exam, but a test for alcohol use is. Therefore, you must follow the ADA rules on medical exams in deciding whether and when to administer an alcohol test to applicants or employees. Alcoholism may qualify as a disability under the ADA, and hence an individual with this condition may be extended protection. However, organizations may discipline individuals who violate conduct or performance standards that are related to the job. Organizations also may discharge, or deny employment to individuals whose use of alcohol impairs job performance or compromises safety to the extent that he or she can no longer be considered a "qualified individual with a disability."

If your organization uses drug or alcohol tests to make personnel decisions, you should develop a written policy governing such a program to ensure compliance with all relevant federal, state, and local laws. Most states require written consent of employees and applicants before drug or alcohol tests can be administered. Consult the ADA, the EEOC Technical Assistance Manual on the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the EEOC ADA Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability - Related Questions and Medical Examinations, and the EEOC Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, as well as your state and local laws when developing a drug or alcohol testing program.

Proficient Investigations can drug screen your applicants at any of our assessment centers but we can also coordinate drug tests through our nation-wide network of collection centers. Once an applicant provides their consent in the presence of our staff, the applicant provides a urine sample which is immediately tested using the QuickScreen Pro Multi Drug Screening Test strip, which is a competitive immunoassay test that screens for the presence of drugs of abuse in urine. The testing strip is a chromatographic absorbent device in which drugs or drug metabolites in a urine sample compete with drug/protein conjugate immobilized on a porous membrane for a limited number of antibody/dye/conjugate binding sites. The sensitivity and rapidity of the immunoassay have made them the most accepted method of preliminary screening for drugs of abuse in urine.

 

The cutoff concentrations for this test are Methamphetamine at 5000 ng/mL; Amphetamine at 1000 ng/mL; THC metabolite (the principle active component in marijuana and hashish) at 50 ng/mL; Cocaine metabolite (Benzoylecgonine) at 300 ng/mL; and Opiates at 2000 ng/mL. When the sample drug levels are at or above the target cutoff, the free drug in the sample binds to the antibody/dye conjugate, preventing the antibody/dye conjugate from binding to the drug/protein conjugate immobilized in the test region of the test device. This prevents the development of a distinct colored band, indicating a potentially positive sample.

 

This test provides only a preliminary test result but a negative test is enough to clear an individual. The results are derived within five minutes and the applicant is advised whether the test results were negative (passing) or positive to specific drugs. For those instances wherein the applicant tested positively, the sample is securely wrapped and chain of custody procedures are implemented in front of the applicant, obtaining the applicant’s signature and initials acknowledging the sealing of the evidence. The evidence is submitted by overnight delivery to a laboratory for confirmation by a Medical Review Officer after determining drug presence through gas chromatography/mass spectrometry test of the sample. Other chemical confirmation methods are available. We are able to report negative drug test results to our clients the same day the applicant’s are tested and we report the results of lab analysis of potentially positive results within 48 hours.

Proficient Investigations can also manage the selection of your employees for your Random Drug and Alcohol Testing Program at no additional charge (other than the actual cost of the test). Our random selection program makes setting up and maintaining random pool groups easy. Simply tell us who will belong to the random pool group, how often you want to schedule tests, and what percentage of the pool needs to be tested. Our program also provides you with prevention of multiple selections - this option prevents individuals from being selected more than once within a scheduling period (weekly, monthly, quarterly, or manual scheduling). In addition, test notices can be automatically emailed or faxed to your company to let you know who has been randomly selected.

 

Contact Proficient Investigations

to implement a drug screening program

 

 

The Best Services - The Best Products - The Best Value At The Best Prices