Drug Testing in the Workplace essays

Drug Testing in the Workplace essays We resolve that drug testing is an invasion of privacy and infringes on employees personal rights. We will show that drug testing is a violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The courts maintained this interpretation until recently. We will argue that any test must be both valid and reliable, and drug tests are neither. Drug testing is used to detect the presence of illegal drugs found in a persons body; this is done by collecting a specimen of blood, sweat, hair, or most commonly urine. Drug testing is a humiliating experience because it makes the employees feel as though theyre criminals. The individual is watched carefully as he or she urinates into a cup in a restroom with no running water. This is done so that the individual will not tamper with the specimen. Companies follow these procedures to ensure truthfulness. However, random drug testing infringes on our Civil Rights. They are an invasion of privacy, which is protected by the Fourth Amendment. Urinalysis reveals not only the presence of illegal drugs, but it also reveals the existence of many other physical and medical conditions including genetic diseases and pregnancy (www.aclu.org/library/pbr5.html ). The disclosure of this type of information can be both embarrassing and harmful to ones career. Further more, the Fourth Amend ment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure except upon probable cause. Therefore government and business policies on pre-employment and random drug testing in the work place are in direct violation of this right. The Due Process clause of the Fourth Amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law. Pre-employment drug screening completely defies this in that it gives a prospective employee no chance of challenging the test. The...