Pre-Employment Drug Testing: A Violation of Rights or the Way to Reduce Turnover
Introduction
In 2011, 57% of US companies conducted pre-employment drug testing as part of their recruitment process for reasons such as complying with federal and state regulations to lowering compensation insurance and healthcare costs during period of employment of newly-hire.
Way to Reduce Turnover?
Another compelling reason for a company to conduct pre-employment drug testing, albeit not highlighted most of the time, is to reduce employee turnover later on. A person that is a chronic drug user may become unstable and require medical attention that will keep him away from the company, temporarily or permanently. The same drug user may also find himself a subject of civil or criminal arbitration due to acts purported to him while under the influence of illegal substances. In such cases, the company may need to let go of said employee for public relations reasons and safety of colleagues. For these cited scenarios, it is to the best interest of the company if they are able to weed out problematic employees at the onset by implementing pre-employment drug testing. In fact, 16% of organizations saw a decrease in employee turnover rates in 2012 after employing drug testing programs.
Violation of Rights?
On another end, critics of pre-employment drug testing say that such exercise is an infringement of privacy of a person, as stated in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of a person. It is argued that actions of a person outside of non-working time are no longer concerns of employers. However, these contentions are refuted by several law rulings in the U.S. Employers are allowed to conduct pre-employment drug testing if they have explicitly made such as a condition for hiring. Companies are further protected from lawsuits if they are transparent to the public with their drug free rule.
Conclusion
Given these assertions, clearly, more is given weight with the reasoning that pre-employment drug testing is more beneficial to companies and colleagues alike over privacy rights.
References
Basic data. No date. Employment-Related Drug Testing. Retrieved from http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Drug_Testing_Employee#sthash.j6uNxn7z.dpbs
Substance abuse. No date. Why Drug Test? Retrieved from http://www.questdiagnostics.com/home/companies/employer/drug-screening/testing-reasons/why-drug-test.html
Melissa DiThomas (01 October 2012). Drug Testing Promotes Wokplace Safety. Retrieved from https://ohsonline.com/articles/2012/10/01/drug-testing-promotes-workplace-safety.aspx
The Right to Privacy. No date. Ways to Pass a Drug Test. Retrieved from http://waytopassadrugtest.com/the-right-to-privacy.html
The Right to Privacy. No date. Ways to Pass a Drug Test. Retrieved from http://waytopassadrugtest.com/the-right-to-privacy.html
