3 ms·
I can imagine what the theory is, but does it make sense in practice? Do you know which industries it tends to apply to? Would a developer be asked to take a dr
by aidos 11y ago
I can imagine what the theory is, but does it make sense in practice? Do you know which industries it tends to apply to? Would a developer be asked to take a drug test?
It's interesting, because I've worked with a lot of people in a lot of places over the years and I've never seen drugs as a problem that impedes workplace attendance / performance. Alcohol / hangovers, sure - plenty of times - but they're not testing for that, right?
- tbomb 11y agoI'm not sure they can test for alcohol since it is federally legal (I know that most places would test for on the job incidents however. I'm meaning it in a "drug test" style screening). Aside from that, I'm not sure how long you can find traces of it in your system. I wouldn't guess it to be longer than 48 hours. EDIT: parentheses content.
- spacemanmatt 11y agoCO allowed a company to fire an employee for testing positive for THC. It's fully legal there.
- vonmoltke 11y agoAlso, health care companies have been allowed to prohibit employees from using tobacco.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoPrivate company can test you for being a Democrat or being gay. I don't see why not alcohol.
- samstave 11y agoHow do you test for either of those?
- airza 11y agoIIRC all US government contractors have to be tested on hire. Most of the large temp firms also do drug testing in the US (in my experience at least.) Never tested for booze, though everywhere I've worked on site has made it clear that you will be drug tested and breathalyzed in case of an on-the-job accident. As i've moved up in job quality it has gone from "we will test you aggressively to see if you do drugs" to "why would we care about this?" Practically it is very stupid because the heroin/meth/cocaine type drugs become undetectable within days while pot takes weeks. It's a dumb US thing, basically.
- spacemanmatt 11y agoDeveloper here. Asked to take a test, to work as an Austin-based employee of a Chicago company, owned by a Texas company, that owned (among other things) a warehouse that shipped guns purchased through their brick & mortar stores.
- culturestate 11y agoYou tend to see drug tests a lot in retail, fast food, and many other low-wage low-skill jobs. I truthfully have no idea how effective that is in weeding out people who would be generally unreliable, but that's often the justification given by managers. I'm sure there are some ultraconservative companies that drug test everyone — including developers and senior managers — but those are few and far between in comparison.
- fennecfoxen 11y agoThere's at least a few places out there run by Mormons who do hair-tests on their employees and won't hire you if you've been drinking alcohol. Even for high-level managers, executives and the like. (Enough of them that I've run into one person talking about her employer doing that, anyway.)
- madcaptenor 11y agoI work at a large telecom company and we drug test everybody. Incidentally, it's quite awkward if you're currently employed when you get the new offer - as I was. The lab that collected the urine sample opened early in the morning for "regular" work but only accepted drug test samples from 10 AM to 3 PM on weekdays.
- southphillyman 11y agoUnfortunately, drug tests are yet another hurdle poor people have to clear in order to earn a living wage. Outside of the red tape domains, like banking and government, I've never been drug tested as a developer. The idea that a low skill worker is more likely to be on drugs is classism. Low skill workers really get no autonomy. They are drug tested, have to clock in and out, and even have monitored lunch/bathroom breaks. It's kind of disgusting to think about.
- ufmace 11y agoThere certainly is some of that, but there's also different requirements for customer service positions where being in a specific place at a specific time is a core part of the job.
- goodJobWalrus 11y agoThey made me do it when I worked at an investment bank.