5 ms·

I wish there were someone willing to stand up for us against employment-related credit checks and drug testing, too. As a European working in the US, I find it

by DanI-S 15y ago

I wish there were someone willing to stand up for us against employment-related credit checks and drug testing, too. As a European working in the US, I find it astounding that these utter invasions of privacy are considered routine. I don't know whether they're legally acceptable in Europe, but they don't seem to be morally acceptable to most people.

jiggy2011 15y ago
They are legal certainly in the UK , perhaps less common. Credit checks are fairly common though, especially for finance type institutions Drug testing is uncommon outside the military however I did work for an IT outsourcing company who were threatening to bring it in at one point as it was standard practice in their US offices. Never did it while I was there though, if they had they would have lost about 50% of their staff.
- mjwalshe 15y ago
  DV security clearance requires drug tests in the UK
quandrum 15y ago
One thing to remember in the US is that health insurance companies drive a lot of the drug testing. They offer it for free to employers, and in return get the benefit of never having (suspected) addicts try to obtain employer based coverage. Obviously, this is not a relationship that exists in Europe.
- DanI-S 15y ago
  That's fascinating, disturbing and something I had not considered.
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  [Citation needed]
simcop2387 15y ago
Drug testing I've only ever seen for retail jobs and ones where you're responsible for the safety of others, that being said I've not seen very many jobs. I can understand them in those cases as with retail jobs there's a serious problem with drug users since they're usually easy to get jobs that don't require much in the line of skill. For the safety aspect I know that most states have the school bus drivers at least take regular drug tests since it's a serious liability if something were to happen. Credit checking on the other hand I see as a complete invasion and I'm not convinced it would even give you anything useful, certainly not in this economy and likely not even in a good one.
- DanI-S 15y ago
  I can certainly see the reasoning, but it falls apart in application. A store clerk may be subjected to intrusive medical examination at any time; they are responsible for a few thousand dollar's worth of stock. A Wall Street trader is unlikely to be subjected to drug testing - drug use is, arguably, a part of their culture - despite being responsible for millions of dollars of other people's money.
  - pyre 15y ago
    It probably stems from the idea that people in lower income brackets (possibly with less stable employment) are more likely to be drug users. For example, casinos drug-screen their employees, but I doubt that such drug screening happens to execs at the casinos who have more power/control over the money that the casino deals in.
    - mikeash 15y ago
      I would just assume that execs don't get drug tested because execs are the ones who make these policies in the first place, and why would they drug test themselves?
  - excuse-me 15y ago
    Wall St does do a lot of drug testing - it gives the bank a get-out with their clients if they can fire an unlucky trader for drug taking. Of course successful ones are never tested. As Nick Leeson said - nobody calls you a rogue trader when you're winning!
jes5199 15y ago
I've never heard of anyone actually failing a drug test - I suspect that's because they aren't very sensitive. It's mostly a scare tactic.
- DanBC 15y ago
  (http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/poppyseed.asp http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/poppyseed.asp)
hga 15y ago
The general pattern in Europe of high youth unemployment, due I gather mostly to the difficulty in firing someone once employed, suggests "Europe" doesn't have all the answers. We've got a very liquid employment market. Easy to fire means easy to hire, which along with our healthy small business climate means if you've got something many companies would find disqualifying "on paper"* you're still going to be able to find ones that will hire you. Like the one that don't bother with background checks at all, they just see if you work out. Traditionally we're big on second chances, e.g. move out of town for a fresh start. Things like the net and specifically Facebook are changing that, but there's still more than enough of it to make a big difference.

by DanI-S 15y ago

jiggy2011 15y ago

They are legal certainly in the UK , perhaps less common. Credit checks are fairly common though, especially for finance type institutions Drug testing is uncommon outside the military however I did work for an IT outsourcing company who were threatening to bring it in at one point as it was standard practice in their US offices. Never did it while I was there though, if they had they would have lost about 50% of their staff.

mjwalshe 15y ago
DV security clearance requires drug tests in the UK

quandrum 15y ago

One thing to remember in the US is that health insurance companies drive a lot of the drug testing. They offer it for free to employers, and in return get the benefit of never having (suspected) addicts try to obtain employer based coverage. Obviously, this is not a relationship that exists in Europe.

DanI-S 15y ago
That's fascinating, disturbing and something I had not considered.
dredmorbius 15y ago
[Citation needed]

simcop2387 15y ago

Drug testing I've only ever seen for retail jobs and ones where you're responsible for the safety of others, that being said I've not seen very many jobs. I can understand them in those cases as with retail jobs there's a serious problem with drug users since they're usually easy to get jobs that don't require much in the line of skill. For the safety aspect I know that most states have the school bus drivers at least take regular drug tests since it's a serious liability if something were to happen. Credit checking on the other hand I see as a complete invasion and I'm not convinced it would even give you anything useful, certainly not in this economy and likely not even in a good one.

DanI-S 15y ago
I can certainly see the reasoning, but it falls apart in application. A store clerk may be subjected to intrusive medical examination at any time; they are responsible for a few thousand dollar's worth of stock. A Wall Street trader is unlikely to be subjected to drug testing - drug use is, arguably, a part of their culture - despite being responsible for millions of dollars of other people's money.
- pyre 15y ago
  It probably stems from the idea that people in lower income brackets (possibly with less stable employment) are more likely to be drug users. For example, casinos drug-screen their employees, but I doubt that such drug screening happens to execs at the casinos who have more power/control over the money that the casino deals in.
  - mikeash 15y ago
    I would just assume that execs don't get drug tested because execs are the ones who make these policies in the first place, and why would they drug test themselves?
- excuse-me 15y ago
  Wall St does do a lot of drug testing - it gives the bank a get-out with their clients if they can fire an unlucky trader for drug taking. Of course successful ones are never tested. As Nick Leeson said - nobody calls you a rogue trader when you're winning!

jes5199 15y ago

I've never heard of anyone actually failing a drug test - I suspect that's because they aren't very sensitive. It's mostly a scare tactic.

DanBC 15y ago
(http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/poppyseed.asp http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/poppyseed.asp)

hga 15y ago

The general pattern in Europe of high youth unemployment, due I gather mostly to the difficulty in firing someone once employed, suggests "Europe" doesn't have all the answers. We've got a very liquid employment market. Easy to fire means easy to hire, which along with our healthy small business climate means if you've got something many companies would find disqualifying "on paper"* you're still going to be able to find ones that will hire you. Like the one that don't bother with background checks at all, they just see if you work out. Traditionally we're big on second chances, e.g. move out of town for a fresh start. Things like the net and specifically Facebook are changing that, but there's still more than enough of it to make a big difference.