Employers Opting to Drop Testing for Drugs

Marijuana is creating a new challenge for employers when it comes to standard employment drug testing, with some companies opting to forgo testing for drugs.

But that's not the case for Bill Neufeld, who owns Express Employment Professionals. Neufeld said no one gets a job with his company unless they have passed a drug test.

"Right now marijuana is not 100 percent legal," Neufeld said. "If they can't pass the drug test, they can't take the assignment."

The president for Palo Alto Staffing, David Chie, said he would rather not test for employees for drugs.

Chie's company has been placing employees for 40 years. He said his company is about one out of 100 that wants employees screened for drugs.

"It's a delicate subject that clients are looking at," Chie said. "It is becoming more and more of an issue."

Chie points to the changing attitudes toward marijuana.

"If it does become legal in California, I mean, how can you test at this point?" he said. "It's like alcohol in one sense."

Chie said future tests may have to be altered to screen only hard drugs, especially for physical jobs like construction or other dangerous work.

"I believe they're going to have to adjust the drug tests," he said. "There are other substances that you're looking for, not just marijuana."

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