Would you/do you submit to drug tests at work?

[Jazz Ad]

Silly 'mericans with their weird conception of employment, eh?

I will never get used to this.

that's why their country is in such great financial shape right now...

As opposed to USA being so financially healthy? Tell me about it.
Each and every single worker right was gained through sweat and tears. It might be good to stop and look back sometimes, taking a glance at what you grandparents and great grandparents did to make sure you wouldn't die a working slave.

 

[Bert Slide]

I'm sure you'd love kids to be able to work in a factory for 10 bucks a day, like they did 2 centuries ago, when employers didn't have to bother with stupid social laws.
Like they still do today in so many countries.
What about vacation? Get rid of it. While you're at it, make these lazy employees work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. If they don't like it, they can go elsewhere, it's the same.
Security? Who needs that? Let entrepreneurs save money. Who cares if an employee gets killed? All his fault he should know better.

What about women getting paid as much as men? They are always busy with sick children, when they're not pregnant that is.
Actually, employers should have the right to fire pregnant women like they used to. That or sign a contract saying they're not going to have children. If they don't like it, they can go work elsewhere.
Surely, the world would be so much better if employers didn't have to bother with so many stupid rules.

I agree. ALL HAIL THE JOB CREATORS! We should be thankful for their benevolence and surrender our body fluids gratefully. Afterall, it is out of their sheer kindness and pure altruism that they provide these jobs for us. Thankfully workers have wised up to the wicked ways of the evil union bosses and seen the light. We are rapidly erasing 100 years of senseless struggle and we now welcome with open arms the Second Guilded Age!

 

[Unrepresented]

This isn't N. Korea. All you have to be is broke in this country and you will receive a free 2 year college education. In THIS country we are all responsible for our own situation. If you dislike the situation you're in, change it. Go to school, start your own business, go get a better job. No matter what you try to say here, not Wal-Mart or any other company in the US is forcing anyone to work for them and the only thing they owe you is whatever you agreed to when they hired you.

Existence forces us to work. We need food, we need shelter. Work is a necessity. Why not make that necessity just a shade or two less demeaning and intrusive by controlling what we as employees have to sacrifice to get through life?

OK, one at a time, shall we? I don't know how to quote, requote, and requote again, so I'll just cut and paste.

That's unfortunate. My start up will be testing for those skills.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I agree. ALL HAIL THE JOB CREATORS! We should be thankful for their benevolence and surrender our body fluids gratefully. Afterall, it is out of their sheer kindness and pure altruism that they provide these jobs for us. Thankfully workers have wised up to the wicked ways of the evil union bosses and seen the light. We are rapidly erasing 100 years of senseless struggle and we now welcome with open arms the Second Guilded Age!

And +1 to this, too.

 

[Unrepresented]

I'm sure you'd love kids to be able to work in a factory for 10 bucks a day, like they did 2 centuries ago, when employers didn't have to bother with stupid social laws.
Like they still do today in so many countries.
What about vacation? Get rid of it. While you're at it, make these lazy employees work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. If they don't like it, they can go elsewhere, it's the same.
Security? Who needs that? Let entrepreneurs save money. Who cares if an employee gets killed? All his fault he should know better.

What about women getting paid as much as men? They are always busy with sick children, when they're not pregnant that is.
Actually, employers should have the right to fire pregnant women like they used to. That or sign a contract saying they're not going to have children. If they don't like it, they can go work elsewhere.
Surely, the world would be so much better if employers didn't have to bother with so many stupid rules.

Remember pensions? Turns out they weren't profitable enough for employers.

 

[worxforme]

If the drug company lobbyist weren't so powerful we could and should legalize pot but control it like liquor, only the government could grow and sell it.

They could take a small part of the revenue stream/savings and develop a test for it and employers/ industries could decide tolerances.

Then the $$$ saved on fighting pot and the income from sales could be used to fight the big battles on Meth crack coke whatever. Education bla bla bla prevention would be included.

Those addicted then would be sterilized to prevent the slow reverse evolution which is already happening with ever increasing over abundant social programs etc. allowing non contributing individuals to reproduce more that those that contribute to the greater good. That sounds so bad doesn't it?!?

Ya, sounds insane. Look up what Einstein says about insanity and you'll think twice before flaming, but you'll do it anyway... because the average person finds faults with great ideas, that's they remain average.

 

[Lonesomedave]

I will never get used to this.
As opposed to USA being so financially healthy? Tell me about it.
Each and every single worker right was gained through sweat and tears. It might be good to stop and look back sometimes, taking a glance at what you grandparents and great grandparents did to make sure you wouldn't die a working slave.

actually, what my parents did to make sure i wouldn't die a working slave was start a business...

my father did just that and now my wife is doing that too...

in america (so far at least), how you are born is NOT how you will die...it is up to you and you alone to make something of yourself.

those things you call worker's rights are not rights at all...they have been taken from somebody else...RIGHTS are things that can be enjoyed by all people equaly, and the exercise of which by any one person does not diminish the rights of another person to do the same...

the right of FREE SPEECH, for example.

in europe, where this model is not so prevalent, i guess they never got over the idea of being serfs...if you want something more than you have, you have to take it from your lord and master.

we in america (or at least some of us) never succumbed to that model, and i predict we are going to come out of OUR depression before you do...the reason being, our system is not at fault...your system is DEFINITELY at fault.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

The only reason for drug tests is if the job at hand requires sobriety and people's lives are on the line. Other than that, I'm against them, but will have, and have taken and passed them when I needed to for the job.

 

[Ziltoid]

in america (so far at least), how you are born is NOT how you will die...it is up to you and you alone to make something of yourself.

I disagree, class inequities are very much present in the United States and there is no such thing as equal opportunity. This is merely a meritocratic illusion you have.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

...
those things you call worker's rights are not rights at all...they have been taken from somebody else...RIGHTS are things that can be enjoyed by all people equaly, and the exercise of which by any one person does not diminish the rights of another person to do the same...

The right of FREE SPEECH, for example.
...

huh?

What rights were taken from someone else in terms of worker's rights?

Additionally, I think you're failing to recognize the distinction between inalienable rights and actual rights protected by law.

 

[Lonesomedave]

I disagree, class inequities are very much present in the United States and there is no such thing as equal opportunity. This is merely a meritocratic illusion you have.

well..so be it...it's an illusion that's shared by much of the world, since we have so many immigrants coming here to participate in our lack of "equal opportunity

 

[Floyd Eye]

Since you were asking a general question, I'll give a general answer: Labor laws. For instance an employee is generally regarded as having a right to a safe workplace, free of discrimination and harassment. They have a right to collect overtime pay. Etc. Most employers are proud to obey these laws. We are talking about a very small minority of employers, probably mom-and-pop businesses, who feel that these laws are objectionable.

I don't know the laws related to drug testing, and there might not be any statutes on the books, but I'm willing to bet that if your business screws up its drug testing program, you could face a substantial liability. Other methods of worker screening are regulated, such as polygraph testing. Some methods are considered to be suspect, such as asking an applicant if they have been arrested.

Yeah, the one about the safe workplace is likely to be the biggest impediment to eliminating drug testing, as I stated earlier. The liability would be staggering. Say a guy gets his hand chopped off by a co worker who was later found to have been high. Who do you think is going to be liable? Why do you think companies have drug policies in the first place? Workplace safety.
And the onus is not on me to provide a detailed description of the applicable federal laws, since YOU were the guy who made the claim that they were applicable.

Who considers asking perspective employees if they have ever been arrested "Suspect"? Every job I have ever applied for I have been asked that question and it is certainly an employer's right to ask it.

 

[Lonesomedave]

huh?

read thomas sowell

ps-edit- i gave an example...the example of "free speech"

 

[Johnny Crab]

When you work in petrochem, you either get tested or go work somewhere else.
Would I want someone on drugs to run equipment handling stuff that can explode and/or kill folks? No.

 

[Floyd Eye]

All you guys have this attitude that businesses are the enemy. You act like they owe you a living and you constantly whine about how they treat their employees. Yet you work for them and you buy and use their products. lol

Here's an idea. Get off yer *** and go start your own business so YOU can make the rules. BE the change you are looking for.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

When you work in petrochem, you either get tested or go work somewhere else.
Would I want someone on drugs to run equipment handling stuff that can explode and/or kill folks? No.

Again, that's not the argument being made.

 

[Floyd Eye]

Here's another question. I work for the gas company. I dig next to gas mains with backhoes, I pipe gas service into customer's homes, I work in close proximity to fellow employees and the general public, while operating extremely large pieces of equipment. Let's say the gas company decides to do away with drug testing. Then let's say I fill your parent's house up with gas because I was high and I forgot to re-light the pilot on the water heater and it blows up killing them. The lawyer tells you the company is liable because they didn't have a drug policy. Are you going to take the company's money or not? You are against drug testing so how could you in good conscience take a payout?

 

[MakiSupaStar]

read thomas sowell

ps-edit- i gave an example...the example of "free speech"

Free speech more than likely falls under the 'inalienable rights' category (Locke's Life, liberty, and pursuit of property - which we later rewrote as 'happiness' in our preamble).

I'm talking about these 'workers rights' that you mentioned. Please explain to me how they were rights taken from someone else.

 

[Lonesomedave]

Again, that's not the argument being made.

got to agree...no one has said anyone should be allowed to work intoxicated...why do you guys keep saying this, as if it answers our objections?

can you really not understand that we are not talking about working intoxicated, or do you just want to keep throwing out that red herring?

we are talking about on your own time, not what you do at work.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

Here's another question. I work for the gas company. I dig next to gas mains with backhoes, I pipe gas service into customer's homes, I work in close proximity to fellow employees and the general public, while operating extremely large pieces of equipment. Let's say the gas company decides to do away with drug testing. Then let's say I fill your parent's house up with gas because I was high and I forgot to re-light the pilot on the water heater and it blows up killing them. The lawyer tells you the company is liable because they didn't have a drug policy. Are you going to take the company's money or not? You are against drug testing so how could you in good conscience take a payout?

I agree with a drug test in this instance. This is exactly why we have them.