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Do companies in Ireland do drug tests?

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Comments

  • #32
    Wanderer2010
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,743 ✭✭✭Wanderer2010


    Its a standard part of your medical in the tech and science industry and most companies claim they can random drug test anyone at anytime but I have never heard of anyone being random drug tested once they are in the job, its mostly a pre-employment practice.


  • #33
    davetherave
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,681 ✭✭✭davetherave


    Not a company, but there is compulsory random drug testing in the defence forces. They will just show up in the morning and say right everybody with a surname from c-j or m - t that is present needs to show up for testing.


  • #34
    Real Life
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 942 ✭✭✭Real Life


    luckily ive never had to have one and with the area i work in i dont think i ever will but im glad they do them for certain jobs


  • #35
    Uncle Frank
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 ✭Uncle Frank


    Never heard of anyone in any of the companies I've worked for getting a drugs test. If it happened in some the places the work force would have been halved


  • #36
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    Best username ever wrote: »
    That can easily happen, particularly if you've taken solpadeine. I've also heard you can fail for opiates if you've eaten too many poppy seed bagels. I doubt that's true though.
    It is true actually.


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  • #37
    Auldloon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,242 ✭✭✭Auldloon


    Spunge wrote: »
    so if you want to get off your tits, stick to research chems and youre alright ?

    Not really. The initial dip tests are broad spectrum so if you take something that's similar to ecstasy for example it will show up on test as ecstasy. When your test is then sent to the lab the tests will be more specific.


  • #38
    Auldloon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,242 ✭✭✭Auldloon


    Jimoslimos wrote: »
    It is true actually.

    Yes I know of someone who failed for that reason.


  • #39
    Tea_Bag
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,979 ✭✭✭Tea_Bag


    what do they do with the knowledge that you're a user? how can they fire you? not a drug user but genuinely interested. unless stated on your contract?


  • #40
    Best username ever
    Closed Accounts Posts: 352 ✭✭Best username ever


    Tea_Bag wrote: »
    what do they do with the knowledge that you're a user? how can they fire you? not a drug user but genuinely interested. unless stated on your contract?

    They fire you, because it's in the company policy that if you're under the influence or have been, well it is in my company's policy.

    If they suspect you are a user, e.g you're calling in late all the time, your work is suffering etc.. I have seen people fired for using over the years.


  • #41
    Odysseus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,752 ✭✭✭Odysseus


    Tea_Bag wrote: »
    what do they do with the knowledge that you're a user? how can they fire you? not a drug user but genuinely interested. unless stated on your contract?

    Depends on the company, a lot of big companys will offer treatment especially if they have any type of EPA programme. If the person does not comply with treatment then the company have the perfect reason to get rid of them


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  • #42
    Capri86
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 246 ✭✭Capri86


    I had a drug test before being hired for my job. Working in aircraft maintenance I reckon it's a good thing. I wouldn't like to fly on a plane fixed by a drug user


  • #43
    uberalles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 836 ✭✭✭uberalles


    I worked for a corporate once and they had a medical which included a urine sample.

    I didn't like the job and looking back they were taking the piss right from the start.


  • #44
    token101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,050 ✭✭✭token101


    Rothmans wrote: »
    That has to be a violation of the ECHR. I can't believe that companies do that!!

    Jesus Christ. It's isn't your human right to be able to abuse drugs and force someone to employ you FFS! If you want to use drugs, don't apply for the job. Or else stop using drugs.


  • #45
    Spunge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭Spunge


    Deleted User wrote: »
    What's the problem with the drug test?
    If you're taking illegal drugs and then working for that company they have a right to know.
    Drugs such as alcohol and cannabis fair enough but I wouldn't want to be working beside people coming into work after taking a load of xanax or snorting a few lines.
    Few enough jobs going without getting on your high horse over a drugs test.

    so if someone does drugs every once in a while recreationally they get stung but someone is a full blown alcoholic nothing happens


  • #46
    Herb Powell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,097 ✭✭✭Herb Powell


    Deleted User wrote: »
    What's the problem with the drug test?
    If you're taking illegal drugs and then working for that company they have a right to know.
    Drugs such as alcohol and cannabis fair enough but I wouldn't want to be working beside people coming into work after taking a load of xanax or snorting a few lines.
    Few enough jobs going without getting on your high horse over a drugs test.

    ????

    I think showing up to work high/drunk/whatever is absolutely unacceptable, but the thing is with the test for cannabis, for example, traces of the drug can be found loooooooooooooong after their effects wear off. Now, I'm not really a cannabis enthusiast myself, but that doesn't really seem very fair to me at all. You can fail one of this tests, yet be in an absolutely perfect state to work. If it's not affecting your work, what is the problem?


  • #47
    anncoates
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,925 ✭✭✭✭anncoates


    Stheno wrote: »

    They were seriously anal.

    Quite an unorthodox method of drug testing.


  • #48
    token101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,050 ✭✭✭token101


    Herb Powell wrote: »
    ????

    I think showing up to work high/drunk/whatever is absolutely unacceptable, but the thing is with the test for cannabis, for example, traces of the drug can be found loooooooooooooong after their effects wear off. Now, I'm not really a cannabis enthusiast myself, but that doesn't really seem very fair to me at all. You can fail one of this tests, yet be in an absolutely perfect state to work. If it's not affecting your work, what is the problem?

    Why take a risk on someone though if you don't need to? Maybe they don't want a recreational cannabis user, or one that's used it all. Or maybe they'll just disregard cannabis entirely and look for heavier stuff. Their choice as a company really.


  • #49
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,990 ✭✭✭mathepac


    Spunge wrote: »
    so if someone does drugs every once in a while recreationally they get stung ...
    Illegal drug user = law breaker = organised crime supporter.

    An alcoholic (or other chemically dependent person) will almost certainly be found out eventually, such is the nature of the condition.


  • #50
    MaxSteele
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,109 ✭✭✭MaxSteele


    mathepac wrote: »
    Illegal drug user = law breaker = organised crime supporter.

    You sound like a barrel of laughs.


  • #51
    Spunge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,779 ✭✭✭Spunge


    mathepac wrote: »
    Illegal drug user = law breaker = organised crime supporter.

    An alcoholic (or other chemically dependent person) will almost certainly be found out eventually, such is the nature of the condition.

    grow your own cannabis, smoke cannabis legally in holland, benzos are prescription, speed can be obtained via prescription, you can buy codeine in a store.

    all of which would make you fail the test.

    but you still have the hypocrisy of allowing people who abuse one substance but allow people who only use other substances recreationally


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  • #52
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,990 ✭✭✭mathepac


    MaxSteele wrote: »
    You sound like a barrel of laughs.
    How I might sound to you isn't of the slightest interest to me.

    If you want to comment on the content of my posts do so; ad hominem remarks directed at posters personally are not allowed here.


  • #53
    MaxSteele
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,109 ✭✭✭MaxSteele


    mathepac wrote: »
    How I might sound to you isn't of the slightest interest to me.

    If you want to comment on the content of my posts do so; ad hominem remarks directed at posters personally are not allowed here.

    Well it's a bit condescending and outdated to view all recreational drug users as abusive and "organized crime supporters". Bit dramatic don't you think ?

    Unless it affects they're job role or productivity, who gives a fiddlers fart if they do a line, smoke a joint or drop a couple of pills on the weekend ?


  • #54
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,990 ✭✭✭mathepac


    Spunge wrote: »
    grow your own cannabis, smoke cannabis legally in holland, benzos are prescription, speed can be obtained via prescription, you can buy codeine in a store. ...
    I wasn't aware that smoking cannabis was legal in one part of The Netherlands, but as the thread is about drug-testing in Ireland I don't see the relevance.

    As for the other stuff, if someone is taking prescription meds obtained legally with a prescription, where is the problem? It may be that an employer won't see someone suffering from certain conditions that necessitate drugs as fit for employment there, but that's their call.
    Spunge wrote: »
    ...
    but you still have the hypocrisy of allowing people who abuse one substance but allow people who only use other substances recreationally
    Anyone possessing / selling / buying illegal drugs is a law-breaker (I didn't decide that, the laws here specify it) and anyone taking prescription drugs without a prescription is a drug abuser.


  • #55
    mikom
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    Wonder if they drug test before they employ you at the Guinness plant?


  • #56
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,990 ✭✭✭mathepac


    MaxSteele wrote: »
    Well it's a bit condescending and outdated to view all recreational drug users as abusive and "organized crime supporters". Bit dramatic don't you think ? ...
    No, it's fact
    MaxSteele wrote: »
    ...
    Unless it affects they're job role or productivity, who gives a fiddlers fart if they do a line, smoke a joint or drop a couple of pills on the weekend ?
    Their employer and more specifically their employer's insurers and their fellow employees from a safety perspective and anyone who cares about cleaning up the country's drink & drug problem.


  • #57
    MaxSteele
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,109 ✭✭✭MaxSteele


    mathepac wrote: »
    No, it's fact

    I meant from a social perspective. It ain't taboo to admit to using drugs. How many professionals and top dogs are recreational drug users too ?
    mathepac wrote: »
    Their employer and more specifically their employer's insurers and their fellow employees from a safety perspective and anyone who cares about cleaning up the country's drink & drug problem.

    I worked in a four star hotel bar and a few of the staff were cannabis users or had dabbled in recreational use before and there were no problems with management. The whole notion that employers and fellow staff are concerned with staff "supporting organized crime" by smoking a joint or doing a line on the weekend is nonsense. None of us certainly didn't fear for our safety because employee Joe Bloggs smoked weed last friday.


  • #58
    Best username ever
    Closed Accounts Posts: 352 ✭✭Best username ever


    MaxSteele wrote: »


    I worked in a four star hotel bar and a few of the staff were cannabis users or had dabbled in recreational use before and there were no problems with management. The whole notion that employers and fellow staff are concerned with staff "supporting organized crime" by smoking a joint or doing a line on the weekend is nonsense. None of us certainly didn't fear for our safety because employee Joe Bloggs smoked weed last friday.

    Big multinational companies do care and they don't want drug users working for them, I work in the tech industry and every person employed there had a drug test, including myself.

    The Pharma industry is even more strict I'm told, with mandatory drug testing every six months to a year in some companies.


  • #59
    Rothmans
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,806 ✭✭✭Rothmans


    token101 wrote: »
    Jesus Christ. It's isn't your human right to be able to abuse drugs and force someone to employ you FFS! If you want to use drugs, don't apply for the job. Or else stop using drugs.

    Well nobody said that there is a human right to be able to take or abuse drugs, or to be able to compel someone to employ you. That's a ridiculous stretch of the imagination on your part, and you're just putting words into other people's mouth.
    However, what is a human right is the ''right to respect for your private and family life, his home and his correspondence'' ( Art8, ECHR).
    Forcing someone to submit to a drug test is undoubtedly an unjustified breach of private life, and could also be considered degrading. It would also probably be considered wrongful/unfair dismissal under domestic law, provided the employee hasn't expressly breached his contract.

    Human rights are important token. Its important that you don't forget that.


  • #60
    b.harte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 524 ✭✭✭b.harte


    I've worked for a few of the large multi-nationals, drug testing in all of them.
    I know of one guy who has a serious problem, he was tipped off by a girl in HR that we was going to be "randomly" tested, so he pre-empted and informed our manager that he had a problem and was seeking assistance.
    The company fully supported him in his attempt to clean up, but the trade off was a regime of testing for years after.
    The company I work for now keeps a close eye on staff behaviour and has a "program" for dealing with anything that comes up, usually a bit of support, if that doesn't do the trick, goodbye. Most people do alter their behaviour when it comes down to it.
    I've nothing against anyone who dabbles but there is a point when your work is compromised (directly or indirectly) that your employer has a right to take action.
    I once lost a (really good) job because of my own problems, many years ago when I thought it was okay to go off on a bender on company time and on company expenses. My employer didn't think this was appropriate, I was warned but didn't take notice.
    It was suggested I resign.
    I'm still paying the price for that fcuk up (12yrs later). At least I eventually coped on.


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  • #61
    Blut2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,581 ✭✭✭Blut2


    I've worked for a few large tech/finance MNCs and have never heard of anyone being tested. As long as youre doing your job Monday-Friday I dont think most white collar employers care if youre off your tits on every substance under the sun from 9pm Friday -> 9pm Sunday night. Presuming you're not be being arrested or anything else in the public eye anyway.

    I think thats fair enough. If you're excelling at your job then your social life outside of work hours should be of no interest to your employer. I think the prevalence of drug tests in the U.S. is rather intrusive, unnecessary and scary.


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