Employee Physical...can I be drug tested without my knowledge?

April 21, 2018 11:52 PM

I live in Illinois and work for a manufacturer that does have federal contracts. We are offered free physicals annually which includes blood and urine testing. It was published on the company website that "this is not a drug test". Can my employee test me for drugs anyway and if positive ( yes I smoked a tiny bit of weed a week ago), be fired as a result?

Recreational marijuana is illegal in my state.

posted by anonymous to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

There is no medical need for yearly blood and urine tests (especially urine) in an otherise healthy asymptomatic person in the absence of specific risks. I'd pass./
posted by chiquitita at 3:16 AM on April 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Can they legally test you for drugs after specifically saying thay they weren't doing that? I dunno. Would you be likely to succeed in fighting them if they did it anyway and fired you over it? I doubt it. Why risk it? If you feel like you need a physical just arrange it yourself.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:45 AM on April 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

yes, they can, the bastards. Pass on that one.
posted by james33 at 5:44 AM on April 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'd inquire whether you can access the physical while opting out of the blood and urine testing.
posted by Secret Sparrow at 7:14 AM on April 22, 2018

Your health insurance should cover a free annual physical with a doctor, so go that route if you can.
posted by cabingirl at 7:18 AM on April 22, 2018 [11 favorites]

This doesn't cover your question directly, but if you smoked a tiny bit of weed a week ago and you're not a regular smoker, it probably won't show up on a blood or urine test. (another source)

I still wouldn't go for it if you can't opt out of the blood/urine test, since your personal metabolism could vary from the average, and a free physical just doesn't seem worth the risk. But I figured the detection timelines for this sort of thing might be helpful information for you and people who find this thread in the future. :)
posted by Gymnopedist at 7:48 AM on April 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

Side points: previous job was as a gov't contractor. Every post-election day, we would get reminders saying something like "even though MJ may now be legalized in certain states, we will fire you if you test positive (... and the gov't will revoke your clearances ..)"

That said, the only time I had to pass a test was pre-hiring. Over 10 years, never had a second test.

Wasn't clear if the fire-you was mandated by the gov't terms/conditions, or more of a "if the gov't cancels your security clearance, you can't work any of our contracts, so we'll fire you".. So it may depend on your employer - if they have enough non-gov't work for you, no problem (if they want that bookkeeping headache of "anon cannot work gov't jobs, but can do other contracts").
posted by k5.user at 11:09 AM on April 23, 2018