slimblaze

sorry for the cross post. not sure which forum this should be in. any feedback would be apprecciated.

i just tested positive. however, i feel that the company's trying to shaft me and the results are bogus. BTW- was tested at Labcorp and they make no effort to interpret results (according to their website)

1- i was never asked a medical history or for any medications i've ingested- ie. what medications i'm taking, any foods eaten within 48 hrs. prior to the test (i've been on ibuprofen for pain. dosages @ 800 mg. a day)
2- i haven't received any written notification of test results or recourse in event of positive result.
3- i've received no written communication from HR.

so my questions are- what are my rights in drug testing? aren't i able to dispute the results of the test and submit evidence that it may be false? shouldn't i have been contacted by someone in the HR dept. an advised of my recourse in these cases??

clareotm

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you won't win ... If you tested positive ... Were you positive? Ibuprophen won't cover THC ... It's tough to fight ... good luck ... clareotm

slimblaze

yes, however, after i got the results my dentist and a general practitioner told me that it would show up positive and that i should've been asked what meds i'd taken.

what's the recourse in the event of a positive result? in this day and age we all realize that people make mistakes and false positives occur. does anyone haev any feedback on retesting policies?

ceej7403

When was the last time you smoked and what's your height/weight/metabolism?

troublemaker_42

Well, for informational purposes, it would be nice to know whether or not the positive result was indeed a positive result. Was there a chance THC was present? If it is a possibility, you are pretty much screwed. Depending on the testing procedures used, most false positives (e.g. ibuprofin) can be eliminated. If the test was actually a legitamate positive, you have little recourse, despite the iboprofin and lack of questions about your eating habits that day. If you failed, you failed......I honestly don't think you have many options at this point, espeically if this was a pre-employment test. The company basically owes you nothing, as you are not yet an employee. As an employee, you may have a few more rights. I am not certain on this. However, its been my experience that employers choosing not to hire you because of a failed urine test have little responsibility to the applicant. Basically, they would ratehr spend their time dealing with the potential employees that passed their tests, instead of justifying their reasons for not hiring you. In short, I don't think you have many options in fighting this, especially if there is a chance THC metabolites were present, regardless of the concentration/amount

slimblaze

i last smoked 8 days ago. i'm not a heavy smoker. i'm 5'9, 150 lbs. i work out on the regular, and drink lots of water to flush my system. is it possible that some was there? anything's possible. however, with their behavior, i'm beginning to suspect that something's foul. when i called the testing center, the MRO's supervisor couldn't tell me what type of test was done. She asked me "why does it matter?" i kid you not. i then told her it matters because it's my employment on the line, and that errors and false positives do occur. This is Earth afterall. She then tells me that ibuprofen never shows up positive to which i basically say bullsh*t. it can and has depending on the test. in this situation, i'm not an applicant off the street, i was a contractor at this company. my dentist said that the dosage will show up as THC, and someone should've taken account of any medications taken beforehand. so, now i'm playing the waiting game. i'm not going to suggest a retest of the specimen, i'd rather just retake the test. at this point, i'm willing to pay for it myself. i hope they allow me to retake the test. however unlikely that may be. i feel i cause some doubt in the vendor's eyes because the supervisor (at least that's how she identified herself) was defensive and tried to pawn me off on an account mgr. i'll keep you guys posted on how this pans out.

thechronic

you have no rights as only a prospective employee. this happened to me and there was even a question about the lab possibly mixing up the results of my and another gentleman's urine. I offered to pay for a new test but, they said the only option was I could pay $150 to have the same urine retested and if it came out negative then the money would be refunded and the negative result reported to the prospective company. If it tested positive again, I was just out the money and the job. I even contacted a couple of attorneys about it and was told there was nothing I could really do about it. I doubt they used anything more than the standard 5 or 10 panel urine test but, the lab will not admit there could have been an error because they could lose the company's business and have trouble with regulatory agencies. The company believes the lab when they say mixups and false positives do not happen, they do not want to spend additional money for more testing, plus they do not want the future liability if you are a druggie and found some way to beat that second test. At this point both the company and the lab are just treating you like some unreliable drug addict. Swallow the loss of the job you wanted and either quit smoking entirely or substitute before the next one. I know it sucks, when this happened to me I needed the job in the worst way plus it was extremely embarrassing.

troublemaker_42

The fact that you were already employed opens up a few options for you, but the outlook is still pretty grim. I wouldn't necessarily believe everything the desntist tells you either, as urine testing (I hope) has little or nothing to do with his specialty. This is strictly my opinion, but I think you actually failed the test, with reason (not false positive) and now you're upset. My justification for such reasoning is that you don't seem to want the same urine retested. Is that potentially because you know that its actually dity urine? of course a fresh test would be better, because more time would have elapsed from the last time you smoked. If the urine is actually "clean" why not have it retested? I'm not trying to be an *ss here, but fighting it is pointless if the original specimen was dirty. If every positive result could be passed off as ibuprofin, there would be many more smokers with higher paying jobs. I hate drug testing, and think its a breach of privacy. However, you agreed to work for a company that performs such tests, so you knew of the possibilites. When subject to random tewsting (or was it scheduled....if so, an even bigger "shame on you" is in order because there are ways to beat the test if you know about them in advance) smoking is risky behavior. In this case, it cost you your job.


I just reread your response, and yes, its extremely possible that traces can remain 8 days. I'm sorry to say you probably have a legimate positive, and since that more than likely violates one if not several company policies, you have no recourse. Testing the urine again will only prove that the thc metabolites were indeed present.