Suspicion Drug Test

Something to consider going forward, you proved beyond any doubt that you are trustworthy. Even though it wasn’t a pleasant way for you to be exonerated, they won’t soon forget it.

Stay positive.

I work for a large company that put me ‘out of service for suspicion of drug use’ I was out of work for a week until my drug test cleared. I had popped for a random which was a hair follicle test then I was told to report to the operating center where they interrogated me. They then proceeded to give me a urine test and put me out of service for a week until the results came back. My question is: is there anything compensation related that I can do? I wasn’t put out of work for the whole week all because of a ‘suspicion’. Btw I passed both test.

Sorry, but an anonymous call, and put out of service for a week is ridiculous, stupid, no proof and you effect a drivers life with no pay for a week. Any person can call that you've ****ed off to do this, the management at the company needs some retraining...yes drug test, but don't screw the driver...I worked in law enforcement for over 10 years and would never do something even close to this....

Definitely sucks but I agree it does make you look good having passed, but that is what is expected of drivers so who knows how they see it.

I wonder if it was triggered by just one person. If more than one, then it becomes hard for a company to ignore. At the same time, perhaps the company agreed with the possibility and that's why they went with the test, just to be sure.

Myself, I am a bit of a hippie in the sense I sometimes come off as some sort of stoner. I am not, but for awhile I had long hair, full beard, all that. Got pulled over once and the officers were very convinced I had to have drugs on me. Profiling sucks but what you gonna do. Not saying that about you, just makes you wonder why they went ahead with the tests, it costs them money, I don't imagine they would want to spend that if they didn't have an obligation to. Especially a hair test.

Although this is an unfortunate situation and I think you should get some sort of compensation. I think you need to look at it long term in the sense of how much do you enjoy working for this company? Overall how well has this company been treating you? If my boss called me tomorrow and said I was going to be shut down for the week, I would be extremely irritated no doubt but wouldn't be going anywhere. And if for some reason these allegations were to happen again, they would very possibly be dismissed that time around. Unfortunately people get embellished for no reason. Hang in there.

I believe your company violated FMCSA controlled substance testing laws by doing what you stated. A trained tester has to observe the suspicious behavior before testing you.

Now, they can most likely get by this by stating, company policy, yadda yadda yadda. You just have to ask yourself is this a company you want to stay with after experiencing a week of no pay for no error on your part. They may be violating their own company policy by doing this, but you won't know if you don't make some waves. Either suck it up or make a stink.

(b) An employer shall require a driver to submit to a controlled substances test when the employer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the driver has violated the prohibitions of subpart B of this part concerning controlled substances. The employer's determination that reasonable suspicion exists to require the driver to undergo a controlled substances test must be based on specific, contemporaneous, articulable observations concerning the appearance, behavior, speech or body odors of the driver. The observations may include indications of the chronic and withdrawal effects of controlled substances.

Copied from FMCSA website:https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&ty=HTML&h=L&mc=true&=PART&n=pt49.5.382#se49.5.382_1307

The carrier could simply chalk this up as a random drug screen. Or they could easily say "No, we infact we did have reasonable suspicion", when may of not of had a shred of evidence. Hard to say without getting their true facts. Either way it's their right to test. Like it or not.

I believe your company violated FMCSA controlled substance testing laws by doing what you stated. A trained tester has to observe the suspicious behavior before testing you.

Now, they can most likely get by this by stating, company policy, yadda yadda yadda. You just have to ask yourself is this a company you want to stay with after experiencing a week of no pay for no error on your part. They may be violating their own company policy by doing this, but you won't know if you don't make some waves. Either suck it up or make a stink.

(b) An employer shall require a driver to submit to a controlled substances test when the employer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the driver has violated the prohibitions of subpart B of this part concerning controlled substances. The employer's determination that reasonable suspicion exists to require the driver to undergo a controlled substances test must be based on specific, contemporaneous, articulable observations concerning the appearance, behavior, speech or body odors of the driver. The observations may include indications of the chronic and withdrawal effects of controlled substances.

Copied from FMCSA website:https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&ty=HTML&h=L&mc=true&=PART&n=pt49.5.382#se49.5.382_1307

It's funny how when some of you start thinking about someone's rights being violated all logical sense seems to drain completely out of your skulls.

Take a moment to think this through, will you? This person said someone called in on him claiming that they had some sort of knowledge that he was taking drugs.

What do you expect the company to do? Ignore it? Just blow it off like it's a sham or something?

I guarantee you that if he would have gotten into an accident after the company had ignored that call, the same people who are saying the company owes this guy money would have been screaming to the Gods that this company should be put out of business for not looking into this.

Instead, when the company does their due diligence and it turns out he's clean, suddenly you think the company should pay him? Why would the company owe this driver money? What did the company do wrong in this instance that they should pay him?

In fact, why shouldn't the driver owe the company money instead? I'm sure whoever called in must have identified him by name. So obviously someone who knows him either had a vendetta against him or honestly thought he was taking drugs of some sort. It wasn't the company's fault this happened. If anything it was the driver's fault. This cost the company a ton of money when their truck went out of service and they had to pay to have this driver tested. Who is going to reimburse the company for the money they lost due to no fault of their own?

Not to mention, is this guy even telling us the truth? Almost certainly not. First he says:

I had popped for a random

Then he changes it to:

They told me they got an ‘anonymous’ phone call

So which was it......a random drug test or a test as a result of a phone call?

The carrier could simply chalk this up as a random drug screen. Or they could easily say "No, we infact we did have reasonable suspicion", when may of not of had a shred of evidence. Hard to say without getting their true facts. Either way it's their right to test. Like it or not.

I believe your company violated FMCSA controlled substance testing laws by doing what you stated. A trained tester has to observe the suspicious behavior before testing you.

Now, they can most likely get by this by stating, company policy, yadda yadda yadda. You just have to ask yourself is this a company you want to stay with after experiencing a week of no pay for no error on your part. They may be violating their own company policy by doing this, but you won't know if you don't make some waves. Either suck it up or make a stink.

(b) An employer shall require a driver to submit to a controlled substances test when the employer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the driver has violated the prohibitions of subpart B of this part concerning controlled substances. The employer's determination that reasonable suspicion exists to require the driver to undergo a controlled substances test must be based on specific, contemporaneous, articulable observations concerning the appearance, behavior, speech or body odors of the driver. The observations may include indications of the chronic and withdrawal effects of controlled substances.

Copied from FMCSA website:https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=1&ty=HTML&h=L&mc=true&=PART&n=pt49.5.382#se49.5.382_1307

The carrier cannot call it a random drug screen after they have already defined it as reasonable suspicion, that is a ludicrous statement. They also cannot redefine a clearly stated federal regulation. Look up the meanings of the words; specific, contemporaneous, articulable, and observation. It is their right to test complying with federal and state law and legitimate legal company policies. Any violations of these laws leaves them open to litigation. How would you like to lose a weeks pay over a likely anonymous phone call? I would be seriously ****ed but would talk to them calmly. A good driver can always find employment. Take them to small claims court for that weeks pay and find another job. If the case is as stated, I bet he would win.

Win what?