[speaker001:] Go ahead.
[speaker002:] Um, I haven't given this a, a lot of thought. I'm, uh, that, that's a whole, pleased with the pr-, practice that is they, I, uh, I don't, you would favor invasions of privacy on the other hand that's arguable but that, that, uh, people who's jobs are critical to public safety should have to meet special standards. Uh, I haven't given this matter enough thought.
[speaker001:] Do you work for T I?
[speaker002:] No, uh,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] I'm in the Washington area. I work for N I S T.
[speaker001:] Oh, okay. Oh, all right. Well, see we have the testing already here. We've had it for, oh, about five years.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It used to just be for new employees. And now
[speaker002:] And now,
[speaker001:] it's for all employees. They, uh, randomly select employee numbers and, uh, the day that they select you is when you have to go and, and be tested.
[speaker002:] Okay, and how do people feel about it?
[speaker001:] So, we're familiar with it. Oh, we have a lot of, um, people upset about it at the beginning. Some not all. But what was happening at T I is that they found certain parts of the company there was a lot of drug abuse. Um, [breathing] mainly the areas whe-, where they were doing a lot of, um, manufacturing type things and what they ended up doing is, uh, kind of like doing a little bit of an undercover agent to watch what was happening, and we had people using on the premises and actually selling and dealing, you know, on the premises.
[speaker002:] Well, okay, that's, that's a very different issue.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Well, yeah, it was, you know, combination of, of, uh, both activities and, uh, and using too so they developed this, uh, drug policy so that, uh, to eliminate, there's some parts of the company that we do, uh, government contracts, and I think some of those require the drug testing, but now T I thought well, we'll just do it for all employees that, um, not just because of safety issues but because we want a totally drug free safe environment for all people to work in and that we shouldn't have, um, people on drugs within our, you know, offices and such.
[speaker002:] And,
[speaker001:] I haven't personally ever been tested, but I don't have a problem with it.
[speaker002:] Um, does the testing cover alcohol as well as illegal drugs?
[speaker001:] No, but one thing that to, to me was, um, going on, stretching it a little too far was that they also check, um, if you are taking somebody else's prescription drug. You know, it happens a lot of times like some member of the family gets the flu or whatever and, {D you know
[speaker002:] Well,
[speaker001:] then } they give it to everybody else in the family and don't always go back to the, you know, doctor and get another prescription. Well, according to what they do at T I, if you take a prescription drug it has to be in your name. It, you know, it can't be in your spouse's name so they will look, I mean, the testing will look for, I guess, any kind of drugs, and you have to tell them what they are taking a prescription for.
[speaker002:] So they ask you to declare beforehand what prescription drugs you are taking?
[speaker001:] Right. Yes, yes. When you get tested you are supposed to tell them, you know, everything that, that might be there. And then if they ever, um, question you or something you may have to show proof that you do have a prescription in your name.
[speaker002:] Okay. Well, it, I mean, it's, I guess that, in fact, they don't test for, for, they don't routinely test for very many prescription drugs but that I, but they don't say in advance, uh, so,
[speaker001:] Well, what they wo-, be testing for are the ones that would have like, you know, barbiturates or codeine things like that in them.
[speaker002:] The ones that would kind of constitute controlled substances or something anyway.
[speaker001:] Right, right. I guess that's what i-, they wouldn't be looking for penicillin and an-, antibiotics and stuff. They would be looking for the, yeah, controlled things, barbiturates amphetamines.
[speaker002:] So what they are asking you to tell them is all the prescription drugs you are taking which are controlled substances.
[speaker001:] Right, right. You pretty much, you know, put down what you remember even if it was just Contact or something like that. But afterwards, uh, maybe if you had a controlled substance [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] Is Contact a,
[speaker001:] Well, [LAUGHTER],
[speaker002:] Bo-,
[speaker001:] you, you probably put down, you know, you had Drixoral or Contact if you would remember that you did it.
[speaker002:] Okay. Is Contact a,
[speaker001:] No.
[speaker002:] substance?
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] I'm,
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] just saying you probably pro-, put down on the sheet
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] anything you have taken. But if they had a controlled substance, maybe they would ask you then to show that you had that prescription in your name. I know I had one contract employee through Manpower was not a T I person,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] but was a contract person, and they test them too even if you are not a real, uh, T I -er. If you are a contract employee here
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] they test you too. And he had taken some kind of, um, [lipsmack] oh, you know, uh, just, he had some kind of flu or something. He got a real bad migraine and he took his mother's,