Hopping mad?
Bechtel behind the thin beard of LANS, has instituted a piss-in-the-cup random drug-testing policy. Most of these folks have DOE Q clearances which require extensive background checks and a vow that they have not, do not and will not (Sam I Am) use illegal drugs. Some have higher, more rarified clearances or certificates already requiring them to submit to random drug testing and in some cases polygraphs. But those are pre-employment choices.
What many are angry about is that this new policy does not address any real issue but instead aggravates several real issues.
Real Issues:
- People handling highly sensitive and classified information and materials must be reliable.
- The same people must not be overly subject to blackmail.
- LANL has a bad reputation (not record) for safety and security.
- Morale at LANL has been dropping steadily through numerous attacks.
- One recent security incident has been loosely linked to illegal drugs.
- Drug tests have a measurable error-rate.
- The Bechtel/LANS policy only addresses:
- Their right to testing. (They declare it, employees are at-will, so be it)
- Consequences of failure to report for testing. (Treated as failing the test)
- Consequences of a positive result. (Immediate dismissal)
- It does not address:
- False Positives
- Verification
- Due Process
The incidence of illegal drug use at LANL (especially among those with or aspiring to a clearance) is a tiny fraction of the use within the general population. A reasonable number of "random tests" cannot be high enough to keep the false-positive rate from going through the roof. Many known prescription and over-the-counter medications can generate a false-positive.
Meanwhile a bill to legalize Marijuana for Medical purposes has passed the Senate in NM with encouragement from Governer Bill Richardson (former Secretary of Energy no less). Director Anastasio pulled alcohol from the test suite (it is rumored that he even stated... "I like to have a martini or two at lunch") maybe they will have to pull Marijuana off the list too? THC is one of the few (along with Phenobarbital and PCP) substances the random urinalysis approach is likely to pick up over more than a few days after use...
And the LANS (Bechtel) Policy reads pretty clearly (LANS policies appear not to be public information, by the way) that "failure to appear for a drug test will be treated as a positive result from the test" and "an employee with a positive result will be immediately terminated". Now it *appears* their actual practice is slightly less draconian than this, but the stated policy would appear to allow them to terminate an (at-will anyway) employee simply for failing to report for a urine test within 30 minutes (what about failure to produce urine in a timely fashion?) or for failing the screening test (false-positives abound). There is nothing in the stated policy about any kind of due process or appeals or redress. There will probably be a few lawsuits... but surely Bechtel is fully lawyered up for that!
Random Drug Testing
It is widely agreed that "random" drug testing has one purpose only: To Intimidate. It may intimidate chronic drug users from applying for a job at WalMart or McDonalds. It may even intimidate well educated, intelligent, highly functional professionals from using illegal drugs that they have already promised (under threat of loss of clearance and likely employment and possibly a career) not to use! But do LANL employees need to be intimidated? Why wasn't the (now becoming) infamous Jessica Q. intimidated? She *was* subject to random testing.
FYI:
- Drug Testing Q&A
- Drug Testing: An Overview
- Official National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Website
- Official Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Website
- Erowid Drug Testing Vaults: The Basics
- The Drug Testing FAQ (v.4.11)
- Marijuana Detection Time Shorter Than Previously Assumed
- Sumary of Findings by The Independent Inquiry into Drug Testing at Work
- All You Need to Know about Hair Drug Testing
- What You Need to Know about Drug Testing Methods
13 comments:
This isn't funny at all. I'm pissed and I haven't even been tested yet.
I know several people who have been tested and while it was all handled somewhat professionally, they all report that they felt very intimidated by the process. The big idling vans, the ominous phone call, the implications of "failing", etc.
They also indicated that they felt that anyone with the inclination could defeat the process simply by carefully concealing some "sterile urine" or one of the neutralizing substances available on the internet to mask the presence of a given set of drugs.
They were effectively "frisked" but not thoroughly... hiding a few ounces of urine or probably an even smaller "doctoring" substance should be easy.
This is such CRAP... I don't believe our security or safety will be improved one smidgen, this will cost up to $1M (in a time of huge budget deficit caused by our privatization)
I doubt Stupak or those other bozos who think they know what we do, who we are, how we operate (when we are not jumping through flaming hoops backwards blindfolded for their kind) will give a flying flip about our drug testing. I don't think this will satisfy them one bit...
It is crap indeed and we know that. However, it is also great showmanship and gives the impression that the new powers-that-be are rounding up the cowboy butt-heads and keeping them on a tight leash.
I for one would have felt better if Anastasio had made a show of going into the Pissmobile with his staff and associate directors on the first day of the policy. He would then make the results (voluntarily so as not to violate privacy, false-positives and legal/prescription drugs and all) public.
He could then have started an open Z# lottery with weighting toward DL and GL level management such that within a month most of *them* would have gone in. Again, a voluntary publication of the results for those folks included.
If GL and above management (<1000) could get through this without being irritated/aggravated/frustrated or falsely accused (mind you, with all of the policies being followed to the letter, no "professional courtesy") then the rest of us might actually feel OK about this.
Too bad Bechtel is a private corporation, I suspect they can hide their records behind that as well as LANL has hidden some of their less-than-up-front behaviour behind the fence.
I like the lottery idea, but I think it should be based on betting when the first GL or above manager will be booted because of a positive (false or otherwise, doesn't matter) drug screening result.
That should be fun.
Fukkin A!
I'm waaaaay beyond pissed. I was working as a PhD candidate for the top guy in our field when Nanos (the butt-head) shut things down.
I wasted most of my summer retaking training that I had taken when I arrived in the winter and cooling my heels waiting for that loser bastard to get over himself. He never did. Thank god for Doug Roberts and the Blog throwing Pete down the well!
My mentor who is also a colleague and good friend of my thesis advisor was very apologetic and managed to talk both her and myself into my returning for a PostDoc despite the writing on the walls about the contract. He is the top guy and I do love my work here.
I did my share of recreational drugs before I came to LANL and agreed to the conditions of my clearance (I have a Q). I would rather not have to worry about taking a hit off of a joint when it's being passed, but I made my choice and I'm sticking to it...
But now, this stupid-ass drug-testing thing... I don't need to but if I did, I bet I could beat it... and since I don't I'm more worried about a friggin false-positive blowing the start of my career. I'm also tired of being treated like a child.
I'm young, many consider me a prodigy... I signed up for college classes at 16 w/o graduating from high school and had my BS and was starting on a PhD before I was 19... I don't want to "waste" the best years of my career in a place that is going to treat me like my high-school truancy counselor did when he couldn't stand the idea that I already knew more than he did at 16.
That loser gave me the excuse to drop out and move on... I expect one of the LANS bureaucrats will do the same thing before long.
If my mentor gets fed up (and he is not happy, believe me) and leaves, naturally I'll follow. I hope I can hold out until he find us all a better home.
I'll miss the skiing and the hiking and the small town, but I won't miss the meddling small-minded management... not one bit!
Calvin
PS. I think I'll start my own blog... thanks for the inspiration you guys!
Ladies and gentlemen, the term "pissmobile" is disrespectful. The proper term is "golden retriever." Thanks for your attention.
And p.s. to the first comment: One of the first tests performed on your sample is a temperature check. If it's not within an appropriate range the sample is invalid. So be sure you carry your concealed sample someplace very WARM.
How numb do we have to be to accept such indignities. I don't want compare this to the early days of the rounding up of Jews and homosexuals in Nazi Germany but there is something fundamentally creepy about this kind of fascist control games.
I've had a clearance for nearly 10 years and while my social circle includes people who smoke pot and occasionally go a little further, I don't know anyone with a clearance who would even consider it. The stakes are just too high, even without random drug testing.
In my country we usually wear T-shits with this image, I think that it is really cool,I have one of this T.shirt, I have a read one!!22dd
This is a sensitive issue, at the end I think there is not going to be a point in where all parties could agree.
I agree with you!
haha great points
yes you are write .
Post a Comment