After The Drug Test (or What you gonna do?)

A key employee flunks his drug test! What do you do? You have a couple of options:

Fire him.
Believe him when he says:
...I don't know how it happened, I never use drugs,
...it was a mistake, "I promise it will never happen again!"
Pretend it never happened.

This can be a hard decision to make. You may have known this employee for a time and even though you may have had concerns at times, you want to believe him and, after all, you do need him. However, you are now in a high-risk situation! You have knowledge of the "use" and should there be another incident involving this employee and he is "positive" again, it could be hard justifying "allowing a known drug user" to continue working.

Chances are, this employee has been of value to you, but he (or she) could have a significant problem. If he goes unassisted (and continues to use), the problem will get more severe and there is a good chance you will lose him anyway. He will either; quit, get fired, be arrested or hospitalized. Either way, you lose (time, money, frustration, etc.) and he and his family also lose. Now he "still has a problem" and no job.

A fourth option puts you in the position of helping someone who may not seek the help on his own without some external motivation (keeping his job). But first, does he really have a problem? If so---how severe is the problem? What kind of assistance does he need? How do you know he participated satisfactorily? Once he completes rehab, then what? This fourth option is for you to refer this problem to a substance abuse professional that is trained to weigh the needs of the employee with those of the employer, someone who is knowledgeable about business.

Your ideal situation is to have a BAS Substance Abuse Professional who is also a experienced Employee Assistance Professional available to your organization.

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