Failed Pre-employment Drug Screen

My first time asking anything failed pre-employment for a company but never went to their orientation never at any of their company facilities would this be on my dac i have requested a copy too see what's on there any help is appreciated

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Failed pre-employment DRUG TESTING?

A company "usually" doesn't drug test before getting you up to orientation.

Probably going to be on your DAC.

If this is the case (failed drug test) you are pretty much SCREWED BEFORE YOU EVEN GET STARTED.

Even if your DAC is clean - a failed screen may show up elsewhere.

Rick

I think it also depends if it was a hair test or urine. With no fed regulations on hair test yet if you fail one pre-employment I don't think they can share that information.

I think it also depends if it was a hair test or urine. With no fed regulations on hair test yet if you fail one pre-employment I don't think they can share that information.

I think that might be debatable.

Companies that do hair - do not do urine - and hire people based on clean results. So apparently - even though it's not in the CFR, or referenced as a rule under FMCSA - the feds are finding it acceptable for a DOT Safety Sensitive Pre-Employment Drug Screen.

Doubt someone is going to get very far, trying to get employment in the industry, if a failure gets reported.

Now - a fail for prescription drugs, is going to require MRO review, to see if there was a legitimate reason these showed up. Fail for ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES (weed, coke, etc.) and there are no "acceptable excuses".

We're kinda splitting hairs here though.

Since the OP did fail a pre-employment drug screen - he needs to be real careful about what he puts on future applications. If he says NO to the question asking about previous failures, and gets found out - that's an instant dismissal (lying on application) on top of the original failed drug screen.

Rick

This story appears in the June 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Delays in adopting federally mandated pre-employment hair drug-testing standards potentially have allowed hundreds of truck drivers who failed hair drug tests to drive for another carrier, according to fleet and medical executives. “Drivers who fail pre-employment hair tests can simply seek employment with other carriers where they can more easily pass a pre-employment urine drug test, without fear that their positive hair test results will follow them,” Dave Osiecki, chief of national advocacy for American Trucking Associations, wrote in a letter last month to a top federal drug agency official. Osiecki was referring to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s process of adopting mandatory hair drug- testing standards that carriers and other federal agencies can use to test prospective employees. SAMHSA, a subagency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been studying hair testing since 2004. Now HHS, which is responsible for setting drug-testing standards for all federal employees, is under a congressional mandate to adopt a hair-testing standard by December. Current federally mandated urine tests check for use of marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and phencyclidine, or PCP. Frustrated by yearslong delays, a substantial number of mostly large motor carriers already have implemented hair testing on their own alongside DOT-mandated urine tests. However, privacy laws do not permit those carriers to share those hair test failures with other carriers, said Ronald Flegel, SAMHSA’S director of workplace programs and chairman of the agency’s drug testing advisory board. Some of those carriers that have gone to the extra expense of hair testing — which can detect drug use up to 90 days — are seeing patterns that support the contention that they better identify “lifestyle drug use.”

Read more at: http://www.ttnews.com/articles/petemplate.aspx?storyid=42156

© Transport Topics, American Trucking Associations Inc. Reproduction, redistribution, display or rebroadcast by any means without written permission is prohibited.

This story appears in the June 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Delays in adopting federally mandated pre-employment hair drug-testing standards potentially have allowed hundreds of truck drivers who failed hair drug tests to drive for another carrier, according to fleet and medical executives. “Drivers who fail pre-employment hair tests can simply seek employment with other carriers where they can more easily pass a pre-employment urine drug test, without fear that their positive hair test results will follow them,” Dave Osiecki, chief of national advocacy for American Trucking Associations, wrote in a letter last month to a top federal drug agency official. Osiecki was referring to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s process of adopting mandatory hair drug- testing standards that carriers and other federal agencies can use to test prospective employees. SAMHSA, a subagency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been studying hair testing since 2004. Now HHS, which is responsible for setting drug-testing standards for all federal employees, is under a congressional mandate to adopt a hair-testing standard by December. Current federally mandated urine tests check for use of marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and phencyclidine, or PCP. Frustrated by yearslong delays, a substantial number of mostly large motor carriers already have implemented hair testing on their own alongside DOT-mandated urine tests. However, privacy laws do not permit those carriers to share those hair test failures with other carriers, said Ronald Flegel, SAMHSA’S director of workplace programs and chairman of the agency’s drug testing advisory board. Some of those carriers that have gone to the extra expense of hair testing — which can detect drug use up to 90 days — are seeing patterns that support the contention that they better identify “lifestyle drug use.”

Read more at: http://www.ttnews.com/articles/petemplate.aspx?storyid=42156

© Transport Topics, American Trucking Associations Inc. Reproduction, redistribution, display or rebroadcast by any means without written permission is prohibited.

OK.

And I agree - they hair test is not the legally accepted "DOT Drug Screen" that is mandatory as a condition of hire.

Which technically means, that all the companies that are using it, and not doing urine ALSO - are in violation of DOT regs (yet you don't see them being fined by DOT for neglecting to do them pre-employment). I wonder how these companies are doing their MANDATORY RANDOM SCREENS?

Yeah - note to all you drivers out there. FMCSA mandates random screening. You could get pulled in once a month, or never get pulled in at all (it's supposed to be RANDOM). You get a message on your QC, with the nearest testing center, you report and drop. Failure to report within the specified time (and usually, it's like IMMEDIATELY) or fail to produce a specimen - and it's a FAIL and you are OOS IMMEDIATELY. I have heard of drivers failing a random while out on the road and being pulled into the nearest terminal and sent out the door.

Back on track here...

So - a failed hair screen may not "technically" be reported (DAC or otherwise) as a failed DOT SCREEN. If it shows up on a DAC , you could probably dispute it and get it removed (PROBABLY). But hair is still a perfectly acceptable PRE-EMPLOYMENT (NON-DOT) DRUG SCREEN and a failure could be REPORTED AS SUCH. Which would still have the same impact on a new entrant.

So we go back to the original premise/post.

Since you never went to orientation, if it is NOT ON YOUR DAC - you could probably act as it it never happened.

I suspect, since this was part of a DOT Physical - that it WAS URINE and not hair. Most companies aren't going to invest the $$ in a hair test, until you are actually onsite for orientation. A 10 panel dip test, costs like $5 (in bulk).

Now - some companies will make you go get a physical (and drug screen) BEFORE you come up for orientation - since, if you can't pass a physical/drug test, no reason to spend the $$ on a bus ticket, etc. to bring you up to orientation in the first place.

"Regular Old DOT Physicals" (the med card needed for CDL Permits and Licenses) DON'T DO drug screens - they aren't part of the process to get a Med Card. The urine there, tests for glucose, ketones, blood, proteins, etc. - they are looking at diabetes and kidney function.

Rufus has been on this site for awhile, and has no doubt read discussions on drug testing. So he probably knows the score there.

To walk into a situation where you're going to be tested, and not be 150% SURE that you can actually pass that test - you pretty much get what you got coming. This is not to be judgemental or unsympathetic. Just that we HAMMER AND HAMMER that the NUMBER ONE SCREWUP that is nearly impossible to recover from, is a DIRTY DRUG SCREEN. And yet folks here, keep reporting failures. And how many training blogs do we read here, where orientation classes lose 15-25% on DAY ONE for drugs/physical issues.

So Rufus...

What company was this? Where did you go for your physical? What did you drop hot for?

Long story short - based on your original post (and assuming this was a urine) - this is likely going to go down as a FAILED DOT DRUG SCREEN.

What other careers have you considered?

Rick

Please enlighten me. If I fail a pre-employment drug screening, shouldn't I have some idea of what was found? I apologize for being so naïve on this. Even if it is prescription drugs or some medication, shouldn't I have some knowledge it may still be in my system? Thanks.

Please enlighten me. If I fail a pre-employment drug screening, shouldn't I have some idea of what was found? I apologize for being so naïve on this. Even if it is prescription drugs or some medication, shouldn't I have some knowledge it may still be in my system? Thanks.

I believe so. Normally the drug clinic that did the testing would contact you directly. They're supposed to do this before contacting the company that paid for the testing. So you should have been told by the clinic that you failed the test, not by the company you were testing for. At least that's always been my understanding of it.

Normally the drug clinic that did the testing would contact you directly. They're supposed to do this before contacting the company that paid for the testing.

That is correct, and to my understanding that is the way it is done. I have always been told this by those administering the drug test when starting a new trucking job.

I wonder how these companies are doing their MANDATORY RANDOM SCREENS?

Rick, I posted a thread about my random drug testing experiences a while back. Knight has random tested me in several different ways including a mouth swab that was specifically for alcohol testing. They seem to do all types of testing when it comes to meeting the random requirements.

I've been tested so frequently that I asked the folks in safety about the unusual frequency of it and their reply was along these lines: "We are required by the regulators to do a certain percentage of drug tests each year. That percentage is based on the number of drivers we have. Those rules do not specify that the number of drivers tested has to meet that percentage, but simply that we do that number of tests. Because of that, some drivers end up getting tested more than necessary just so that we get the proper percentage number accomplished. You just happened to be at the right place at the wrong time and got tagged for drug testing so that we have got our numbers in line with where they need to be."