XPost: uk.legal, uk.politics.drugs   
   From: drjohn@NOSPAM.hotpotmail.com   
      
   Rise in use of drug tests to sack staff without redundancy pay   
      
       * Diane Taylor   
       * The Guardian, Monday 18 May 2009   
       * Article history   
      
   Employers are increasingly using drug testing to get rid of staff without   
   having to make redundancy payouts, as a way of ­cutting costs during the   
   recession, a ­charity has said.   
      
   Release, which focuses on drugs, the law and human rights, reported a   
   four-fold increase in calls to its drugs team about problems with   
   workplace testing in the first three months of 2009 compared with the same   
   period last year.   
      
   In the first quarter of 2008, the team received 493 calls, with just 31   
   (6.2%) related to testing at work. In the first three months of this year,   
   548 calls were received with 145 (26.4%) about this issue.   
      
   In many cases callers have been getting in touch in a state of distress,   
   having been tested for the first time after years in the same job. Often a   
   programme of voluntary redundancies was announced, followed by workplace   
   medicals for the remaining staff, including a drug test.   
      
   Sacking employees who test positive for illicit drugs allows employers to   
   avoid making redundancy payouts. Cannabis, which can remain detectable for   
   several weeks after use, is the substance causing the biggest problems for   
   employees.   
      
   While drug testing in the workplace has been routine for many years in   
   safety critical jobs, such as driving and machine operation, Release   
   reports that many calls are coming from sectors they had comparatively few   
   dealings with before such as office work, banking and commerce.   
      
   Previously the charity received regular calls from employers about how   
   best to support staff with drug problems. These calls have dwindled to   
   almost zero.   
      
   The expansion of drug testing into non-traditional areas could breach   
   employees' human rights and entitlement to a private life, while offering   
   few enhancements to workplace performance, Release said.   
      
   Forty per cent of the workforce under 40 have used illicit drugs,   
   according to Frank, the government's drug awareness campaign. It is   
   unclear how many users are impaired by drugs during working hours.   
      
   Frank's literature states that while some workplaces may benefit from drug   
   testing there are also many drawbacks, such as a negative impact on   
   employer/employee relations.   
      
   The independent inquiry into drug testing at work in 2004 said "good   
   management, education and support for staff is more useful, effective and   
   less costly [than drug testing] in dealing with drug problems".   
      
   Concateno, a group of companies that between them have approximately 60%   
   of the UK workplace drug testing market, reported a 13.2% increase in   
   testing between 2007 and 2008. In 2007, 159,000 workplace drug tests were   
   carried out and in 2008, 180,000 tests were done   
      
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/18/drugs-testing-work   
   lace-redundancy   
      
   --   
   Dr John Watson   
   Baker Street   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)