Question:
My wife is on 40 mg/day methadone for chronic facial nerve pain, and is
getting ready to re-enter the workplace.
We are concerned, though, about how to approach job interviews, particularly
whether to voluntarily bring up the pain medication usage.
She will be applying for secretarial/receptionist jobs, not requiring
operating machinery or heavy equipment, so impairment shouldn't be much of
an issue.
If pre-employment drug screens are required, at what point (if any), should
the methadone be mentioned? Does methadone even show up on a typical drug
screen?
Any advice or personal experience would be most appreciated!
Answer:
This kind of question comes up periodically, so you will probably get a
number of opinions. In the whole, I think that, unless the testing folks
ask about medications (most don't) when getting the sample, she is probably
best off keeping her meds and medical problems to herself, as long as they
don't relate to the job. It's possible that the company will not even test
for opioids (it's cheaper for them to just test for MJ and cocaine, for
example). If they do and she gets a negative result, your wife should
definitely have an opportunity for your wife to give her list of meds to
them. This should let them interpret the results correctly and only the
final test conclusion should go to the company hiring.
I know there are a lot of shoulds in my scenario, but, given the bias of
the general public against such meds (especially given the stigma attached
to methadone) it is in your wife's best interest to keep that as private as
possible. It really is not their business, in most circumstances, any more
than they should know how often she takes Tylenol.
Anyway, I personally never volunteer any medical information in such
circumstances, and an employer has no legal right to know about medical
history that does affect job performance when you apply
