Some Wall Street firms are reevaluating policies for drug testing employees. Here’s where the biggest banks stand on testing workers for marijuana use. (2024)

FAQs

Do well over half of all US companies use drug tests to screen applicants? ›

More recent surveys of workplace drug testing indicate that between 50 and 75 percent of medium and large organizations now test current or prospective employees for drugs (American Management Association, 1992; Axel, 1990; Hayghe, 1991).

Between 2020 and 2021, the percentage of companies that conduct lab-based urine tests decreased from 89% to 85%. Due to new legislation, nearly 10% of employees planned to remove marijuana from drug testing panels in 2021. Only 1.5% of job postings in the US mentioned a mandatory pre-employment drug test.

A spokesperson for Bank of America confirmed that the firm does not test new hires or current employees for drug use.

A: If an employer believes they have reasonable grounds or suspicion that justifies a drug test, they can perform a drug test. They cannot perform one randomly, and all employees must be given notice that a drug test will be performed.

What are high-paying jobs that don't drug test? High-paying jobs that don't drug test include IT consulting, computer animation, and mobile applications development. Film producers, interior designers, and real estate agents also don't typically have to undergo drug tests and usually earn high salaries.

Urine tests aren't 100% accurate. Rarely, test results incorrectly show traces of drugs you didn't take. This can be due to foods you've eaten, lab errors, or over-the-counter medications. If you have a prescription for any medications, make sure you tell the collector and the lab.

Throughout the top 50 metropolitan areas in the US, government positions were the most common jobs to require a pre-employment drug test. Healthcare and hospitals came in second with nearly 1,500 fewer jobs requiring pre-employment drug tests. Manufacturing was third, in spite of the dangerous nature of the job.

Critics of drug-testing programs argue that employees have a basic right to privacy. Employers cannot intrude on this privacy without serious cause and in a manner that is reasonable. Routine and random drug testing, they claim, clearly violates an employee's right to privacy.

Of more than 7 million drug tests administered to potential employees and analyzed by Quest Diagnostic Labs in 2015, positive pre-employment tests clock in at roughly 4.2 percent. Once someone has been hired, that rate jumps to 5.5 percent.

Wells Fargo doesn't typically drug test as a condition of getting hired by the bank but does have a zero-tolerance policy for substances. Wells Fargo has a drug-free workplace policy.

What kind of drug test is most common for pre-employment? ›

Urinalysis – A urine test is the most common form of pre-employment drug testing and is typically conducted once a conditional offer of employment has been sent.

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.

Testing must be performed at a Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) certified laboratory. If the preliminary screening is a positive result, a confirmation test - Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS) - must be performed.

In most cases, courts have ruled that urine testing involves a search and seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Nevertheless, courts have generally held that individualized reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause is necessary to conduct a search.

The Fourth Amendment. The public-private distinction is important because drug testing normally involves the taking and examination of material from a person's body that is not normally exposed to public scrutiny and so is considered a search under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution, through the Fourth Amendment, protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. The Fourth Amendment, however, is not a guarantee against all searches and seizures, but only those that are deemed unreasonable under the law.

Urinalysis – A urine test is the most common form of pre-employment drug testing and is typically conducted once a conditional offer of employment has been sent.

Drug screening and drug testing differ in terms of methodology, accuracy, cost, and time required for results. Methodology: Drug screening is usually performed with a rapid 5-panel urine or saliva test, whereas drug testing methods include the more comprehensive 10-panel urine, blood, or hair follicle tests.

While 10-panel drug tests are most commonly used by employers, you may want to order a test for personal reasons.

In general, if a job is contingent upon passing a drug test, a failed drug test can disqualify a candidate from the position. However, employers must follow the proper procedures when rescinding an employment offer or terminating an employee to remain compliant with federal and state regulations.