MANDATORY DRUG TESTING AS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT; AN ETHICAL ISSUES ANALYSIS
This research analyzes, within the context of ethical issues, the concept of mandatory drug testing as a condition of employment. The term drug, as used in this research, refers to illegal substances, as opposed to alcohol, tobacco, or ethical drugseither prescription or overthecounter. The phrase, "as a condition of employment," implies that a favorable drug test would be required before an individual was employed by a firm. Additionally, however, "as a condition of employment" also implies that periodic workplace drug testing would be performed, and that unfavorable results from such tests could jeopardize an individual's employment status.
Mandatory drug testing, for whatever purpose, implies that such testing may be accomplished by means of coercion or force, as opposed to the voluntary submission by individuals to such testing. The mandatory aspect of a drug testing program, therefore, involves an individual's right to privacy and right to free choice in a more or less free society. Even if an individual is willing to voluntarily submit to drug testing, if such testing is mandatory, the individual's rights to privacy and free choice are involved. The obverse of individual rights in the instance of mandatory drug testing as a condition of employment includes both the rights of the larger society to public health and safety, and the rights of employers to expect worker performance which will not risk the safety of other employees, expose the company to liability, alienate customers, or contribute to a deterioration of the company's productivity.
In addition to the conflicting ethical issues identified in the preceding discussion, there is the matter of the illegality of the use of the drugs in question. In a nation where the rule of law is assumed to prevail, individual liberty is, at times, curtailed in the application of laws design...