Random Testing Not the Norm for Private Employers

Q: What’s wrong with Florida governor Rick Scott signing a law requiring state workers to submit to random drug testing?

A: According to The Miami Herald, Scott said the drug testing legislation is no different than what already goes on in the business world. “Private companies do the exact same thing,” he said. At face value, his statement sounds perfectly reasonable. We all want state employees to be subject to the same rigorous standards as private sector employees. However, this law goes far beyond that, and will require much more than what’s now common in the private sector.

First, a primer. There are generally 4 types of drug testing.

1. Pre-employment

2. Reasonable suspicion

3. Post accident/injury and

4. Random

Most private companies who have a drug-free workplace program only require the first three. Private companies generally do not conduct random drug testing of their general workforce. Why? Because it’s unnecessary, expensive and intrusive. The shotgun approach doesn’t address a need or correct a problem. In other words, it’s not good business. In the rare cases when random testing exists, it’s targeted to safety-sensitive positions

The governor implies that the law was needed because state and public sector employees had more lenient testing than their private sector counter parts, when in fact the opposite is true. Public employees are already subject to all four types of testing including random, if, for example, a job requires the employee “to carry a firearm, perform life-threatening procedures or work with controlled substances” or a job “in which a momentary lapse in attention could result in injury or death to another person.

So why pass a law that serves only to expand the pool of employees who must be randomly tested so that it now includes the entire state workforce? Why spend all that money on a problem that doesn’t exist? I frankly don’t know.

What I do know is this: private sector employers don’t routinely randomly test employees indiscriminately, across the board. Any politician who claims otherwise in order to justify passing a wasteful law is being disingenuous at best

So, don’t be fooled by the sound bite. Learn more.

Next week: a follow up with additional details and examples.