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Originally Posted by onlyalad
Most of these have studies that don't show any improvement. If there are studies on both sides, why do companies still do it? One reason, as I have stated earlier, is insurance costs. Another is why chance it? It is cheap to run the tests and it is better to be safe than sorry. If the tests were to cost more, companies would take a closer look if they were really needed, but at less than $20 for most screening test (some companies get 80% off list price) it is cheap and easy.
As far as habeas corpus goes, If you don't want to take a drug test then don't. Find another job. There are many companies that don't make their employees take the tests. However; while being an African American or being a women in the workplace gives you rights, there is no protection under the law for being a drugged American.
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Oh, then of course we'll be happy to suspend citizens' constitutional rights of habeus corpus and protection against illegal search and seizure if it'll help CORPORATE PROFITS.
A company is within it's rights to make intoxication on the job, or commission of a crime outside of work hours grounds for termination. It's reasonable to ask an existing employee so accused by a witness of violating this policy to take a test as a way to demonstrate their innocence. But making drug testing a precondition of being hired in the first place is a violation of both the 4th and 14th amendments to the constitution. The potential financial benefits to the employer do not outweigh the constitutional rights of the employee.
Thomas Jefferson must be rolling over in his grave.
I don't use drugs, but on principle I don't apply for any job which requires me to take a urine test. I am a dedicated, loyal and hardworking employee and the loss of my contribution to potential employers whom I didn't apply to because of their drug-test requirements has been far greater than any insurance savings.
It's not just heavy machinery operators anymore it's office workers and messengers and everybody else.
Furthermore, I have taken urine tests as a substitute for friends of mine who do use drugs occasionally. It's ridiculously easy to get away with, and I know that this goes on all the time.
Some companies have begun requiring potential hires to take lie detector tests also. This is how police states get into power-- incremental erosions of civil liberties for apparently innocuous reasons.