This attitude changes in the workplace if the drug use impairs performance to the detriment of other workers or if the work involves public safety, in which case tolerance for drug use drops significantly. Another reason why tolerance for some drug use is so high is because the attitude is a reaction to the apocalyptic warnings emanating from law enforcement and government, given that people know that mild marijuana use, for instance, is not the mind- and life-bending experience often claimed. Many do not see the problem as being as dire as it is made out to be, and so they do not see it in the way earlier generations did.
Casey J. Dickinson notes the increasing use of pre-testing for applicants as a way not assuring that the person hired does not use drugs. Drug testing is only one part of this effort as employers want to know more about the people they hire, including using background checks, fitness checks, and drug screening. This can be onerous for employees, or potential employees, when the different services are offered by a number of vendors so that gaining employment becomes something of an obstacle course (Dickinson 5).
This can raise concerns about employee privacy. The trend has been for more drug testing for some time, and almost one-half of Fortune 500 companies required or planned to require drug testing for employees by the end of 1987. Many argue against this move, seeing such a requirement as virtually always illegitimate as it overrides an employee's or applicant's rights to privacy.
The employer has a duty to the employee to refrain from harmful treatment, which in this case is what some say drug testing would be. It is also pointed out that the relationship between employer and employee is contractual, an economic relationship to satisfy the economic interests of both parties. Each party is responsible only for the responsibility it takes on voluntarily, and this might not include information gathered through drug testing.
Many CEOs avoid testing so as not to create hostility with the workforce, though it is often recommended that they institute testing to protect themselves. Others find that drug testing goes beyond the employer's sphere of influence. Other business leaders either accept that drug testing is not beyond their sphere of influence. Even those who accept the idea of testing in some circumstances may also deny the validity of such testing for the most part and suggest that the employer needs to justify any action he or she takes in this regard.
Even if all are in general agreement that drug testing for certain hazardous jobs is proper, there is no agreement on what constitutes a hazardous job and what level of hazard has to be achieved. Various authors see drug testing as ethical in certain circumstances, though they may differ on what those circumstances may be. Clearly, though, it is not as simple as the employee has to give the employer all the information requested, though some proponents of testing would make the claim that it is that simple because the employer can terminate employees at will and can set the terms of employment. That would be a legal argument and not an ethical one, however, and many see the need for an ethical justification for drug testing in the workplace. Everyone has to work, they reason, and employers should not place undue burdens on employees to they cannot work or cannot tolerate the conditions of employment. Employers should adopt this same view, of course, to retain employees, something that also reduces costs and improves performance. Challenging the privacy rights of the employee without good cause only increases workplace tensions and can cause more harm than the drugs.
At the same time, increased testing has been implemented in the face of evidence that drug use incurs a major social cost, including a cost in the workplace. The figures used are often questionable because of difficulties in measuring losses of productivity and profits that would result from one single problem. As evidnec for broader societal costs has developed, though, there has been a rise in anti-drug policies that can be seen in increased testing of job applicants and current employees alike for drug use:
Drug Testing in the Workplace Most employers in the United States are not required to do drug testing on either current or potential employees, although the majority have the right to do so (United States Department of Labor, 2010). Drug testing is not required under the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988. The Act can be confusing and challenging for employers, however, since it essentially states that any organization receiving federal grants
Workplace Drug Screening Testing for drugs has developed into a significant security concern in places of work for management. The purpose of screening is to diminish the effects that illegal substance abuse has on the places of business, comprising lateness, non-attendance, turnover, mind-set troubles, theft, reduced output, misdeeds and hostility. "The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that drug use in the workplace costs employers $75 to $100 billion dollars annually in
Drug Tests and Government Benefits Recently, there has been discussion regarding government benefits, such as unemployment. This discussion has focused on a new, potential requirement to receive benefits such as welfare: drug testing. People who are applying for benefits like welfare or unemployment would have to be tested for illegal drugs (Alcindor, 2012). If they were found to use drugs, they could be denied benefits. This would seen to make sense,
Brick and Cutter's Way can be categorized as both thrillers and films noir due to the fact that the narratives of these films revolve around an investigation into the mysterious deaths of young women at the hands of power-hungry men. While the investigation in Brick is fueled by a desire to expose a drug trafficking ring at a high school, thus making drugs a central issue, drugs in Cutter's
What further makes interpretation of results difficult to precisely define quantify is that the amount of drug stores depends on the nature of the drug itself, the duration of the ingestion of the drug, and the composition of the tissue holding the drug and the frequency of use. The greater the incidence of drug use the more permanent the level of toxins and chemicals in tissues throughout the body,
As a result, unions today are completing a variety of drug screens on construction workers who are members to ensure compliance to the federal law (Fournier, 2006). Unions have also acknowledged publicly that drug abuse in the construction industry is particularly acute and that there needs to be a continual focus on improving the screening methods to ensure compliance (Fournier, 2006). Like the U.S., Canada has aggressively pursued this
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