Question:
recently accepted a verbal job offer and was required to take a
urine drug-test, which I did on 7/3/02...I took with me all RX & over
the counter medication that I currently take as well as a letter
signed by my Dr. explaining that one RX I have (Didrex) may show up as
"amphetamine positive" on the test...To my surprise I was informed by
Quest Diagnostics, the screening lab., that they could not accept the
letter or make any notes regarding the other meds that I had
w/me....My concern is,I have not received the offer letter that I was
told would be mailed to me once I passed a drug-test and the HR person
I spoke w/is now on vacation...I called Quest & they basically said
that no news is good news....I know that Didrex is an amphetamine &
should have been detected as it was detected on a friend of mine's
drug-test...I am supposed to show up @ work on Monday, 7/15, to begin
training...What should I do???...Are potential employer's required to
inform job applicants if they do not pass drug-tests???
Answer:
If I had seen your post earlier, I would have suggested that you call
the company and ask to speak with the person who gave you the verbal
job offer. Tell them you have not received your acceptance letter
yet, and you would like to know if you should just come in.
However, 7/15 is past. If you did not get the job, and were never
contacted by the company. Call the person who gave you the verbal
offer and ask them why they had not sent it. If it was due to your
test results, tell them that you will consult a lawyer because they
did not reveal that a medication you are taking will provide a
positive on amphetamine testing. And that you informed them of this,
and provided them a letter from your physician as validation of your
being on this drug. Tell him/her that they refused the letter from
your doctor. (You can be as nice as you would like, or as stern as
you like when talking with them. :-)
Contact a lawyer (perhaps the ACLU might me interested in this), and
give them all of the details.
I believe that you may have a right to sue the testing company for
negligence because you had valid proof (doctor's letter) of your
prescription medication interfering with the tests.
