Question:
had to take a pre employment test today to get a job as a truck driver. I
have been familiar with tests and failed one last fall, hence I lost the
job. I am now clean, I haven't smoked a joint in 18 days, since I have low
body weight it should be enough. The testing place took a split screen
sample to send to the lab for DOT testing. This result will be back friday
8/23. The employer had asked for an instant test also so that he could put
me to work immediately. I watched as the testing person put a 5 panel card
into the sample testing for coc, thc, opiate, meth and one other (i forget).
Anyway after 5 minutes the card said I was positive for meth, opiate and thc
which was bull****. The tester said "well give it 5 more minutes" after
which the opiate and thc came back negative but the meth read positive!! I
haven't done that drug in over 10 years. If anything the thc would have been
positive. So I failed the test. I told the employer that this was absolutely
not right and he agreed to wait until the lab report comes back on friday.
What can I do to protect myself in this case?
Answer:
The "instant" test you took was most likely a screening test, which are
developed to be very sensitive although not usually very specific. IOW,
it should pick up all positives and some false positives. I have
personaly seen these test positive for cocaine in 86 yr old nursing home
patients. The sample that was sent for testing will most likely come
back negative.
As for what you can do to protect yourself, you could go to another
laboratory and have an independent test done. However, the employer may
not accept the results from another laboratory. Unfortunately, due to
insurance and potential lawsuits very few employers will look beyond a
positive result.
