Legal and Ethical Challenge

How does understanding the relative stability of individual differences benefit me?
3.2 How do multiple intelligences affect my performance?
3.3 How does my personality affect my performance at school and work?
3.4 How do self-evaluations affect my performance at work?
3.5 What is emotional intelligence and how does it help me?
3.6 How can understanding emotions make me more effective at work?
legal/ethical Challenge
To Test or Not to Test, That Is a Problem
Companies across industries have tested for drugs for many years, and depending on the job and the drug, few would argue against such practices. For instance, no one wants pilots, air traffic controllers, or surgeons to be altered in any way while performing their duties. In the past when there was ambiguity about drugs and jobs the law made it easier—if the drug is illegal for recreational use then it is reasonable to include it in testing, pre- and post-employment. This is why few people today or in the past would support the use of heroin or cocaine at work, and thus testing for these is still widely accepted.
But Now There Is Recreational Pot (Not Medicinal)
Although still illegal at the federal level, marijuana is legal for medicinal uses in 39 states and for recreational use in 10 (as of early 2019), and a Gallup poll showed 64 percent of Americans favor its legalization. These changing attitudes and legal complexities are forcing owners, managers, and employees to reconsider their positions and policies related to drugs and drug testing in the workplace.
Some argue testing is obsolete while others claim the current situation requires even greater diligence. The state of Maine, as an example, has outlawed pre-employment testing and dismissal for a first positive test for pot use at work, which has led companies there and elsewhere to eliminate or at least reduce testing. Vermont also legalized recreational use but does not require employers to tolerate possession or use at work, nor does it forbid them from testing for It.
On the other hand, many argue employers have a responsibility to provide a safe and productive workplace, and to the extent policies and practices related to marijuana (or any other substance) undermines these responsibilities, then such policies are difficult to defend. The failure to establish and enforce such policies erodes employee morale and potentially increases legal liability for employers. Additionally, since opioids and other prescription drug misuse is epidemic, many think drug policies and practices need to be tougher at work, not more laxed. Further support for this position Is that 4.2 percent of urine tests done on employees in 2016 were positive, the highest level in more than a decade.
What About Unreliable Tests?
As before and still, those who test positive almost always claim their exposure was indirect, a situation factor, and it was the secondhand smoke of a partner, friend, person sitting next to them at a concert or in a car. Experts and processes today reduce the likelihood of false positives to nearly zero, and many processes automatically use a second and more stringent testing method when the initial test comes back positive. Furthermore, testing today allow for a threshold level for all drugs, and the thresholds are now high enough to require being stuck in a closet with four friends smoking pot heavily for hours in order for a bystander to register positive.
This poses quite a dilemma for owners, managers, and employees. Let's explore your own views and recommended actions with the following questions.
1. What is your position on drug testing at work, both pre- and post-employment? Explain.
Your response will vary based on their own beliefs.
2. Assume you are a manager of employees across multiple states, some with recreational drug legalization and others not, what would you do?
Your response will vary based on their own beliefs and legal considerations of each state. The most important part of this is to first follow the law, then bring in your own views.
3. Employees in most companies are allowed to take smoke breaks, historically for cigarettes, but what If now they now want to include pot-breaks in those states where marijuana is legal? Assume you own the company, does that change your views?