Drugs in the work place

[Erik Sine]

I was curious, I've been self employed for the better part of my sign career but know from my own experience that in the 80's and 90's drugs in the work place seemed to be pretty common place, or maybe it was just a so cal thing. Is drugs use while being on the job still rampant?

When I had employees I had problems with some employees using pot to coke, not necessarily while working that I knew of but I did see how it affected the way they worked or when they even worked at all. The use of pot outside of the work place really affected my salesmen, he got lazy accomplishing nothing on his own. The other who was more of a sign painter who I mostly just subbed out used coke, was no where to be found half of the time. Not to put sign painters down, but most of them that I worked with always seemed to have drugs habits.

[Guest Signtiffic]

From my experience it's still common to have recreational users throughout the sign industry. Not necessarily in management, sales, or executive levels but across shop floors from painters to fabricators and installers. (Granted I know plenty or upper management and owners who have vices, but they keep it to themselves and don't make it a public or social activity)

Pot doesn't seem to effect everyone the same, but pot and other drugs can degrade ones performance tremendously. In California pot is nearly legal....that is to say its not heavily prosecuted and obtaining a medical use permit isn't all that complicated for someone who really doesn't need it for medical use. That’s not the case everywhere else but regardless it shouldn't ever be endorsed by a sign company. After all, our laborers work with saws, drills, cranes, sharp objects, and the like all of the time. No insurance policy is going to cover crap if someone gets hurt while stoned on pot or anything else.

A habitual user is normally not productive doing much of anything besides looking for more dope. That's just not someone you want on your team. The harder the drug the worse the performance. First and foremost this should be a concern for any business owner. It's not good for business. It's not good for image. It's not insurable.

I've always been a believer that after work one should be able to do what they wish. It's their body, their life, and their risk. We got rid of slavery and I can't say I'd back up any law or employer that wanted so much control over an employee as to dictate what they did with their free time. I can say I would back up any employer who doesn't want the risk or crap performance of a habitual user.

Just my opinion.

[flexlumesign]

From my experience it's still common to have recreational users throughout the sign industry. Not necessarily in management, sales, or executive levels but across shop floors from painters to fabricators and installers. (Granted I know plenty or upper management and owners who have vices, but they keep it to themselves and don't make it a public or social activity)

Pot doesn't seem to effect everyone the same, but pot and other drugs can degrade ones performance tremendously. In California pot is nearly legal....that is to say its not heavily prosecuted and obtaining a medical use permit isn't all that complicated for someone who really doesn't need it for medical use. That’s not the case everywhere else but regardless it shouldn't ever be endorsed by a sign company. After all, our laborers work with saws, drills, cranes, sharp objects, and the like all of the time. No insurance policy is going to cover crap if someone gets hurt while stoned on pot or anything else.

A habitual user is normally not productive doing much of anything besides looking for more dope. That's just not someone you want on your team. The harder the drug the worse the performance. First and foremost this should be a concern for any business owner. It's not good for business. It's not good for image. It's not insurable.

I've always been a believer that after work one should be able to do what they wish. It's their body, their life, and their risk. We got rid of slavery and I can't say I'd back up any law or employer that wanted so much control over an employee as to dictate what they did with their free time. I can say I would back up any employer who doesn't want the risk or crap performance of a habitual user.

Just my opinion

Seeing it from a business standpoint in the sign business with people driving and operating equipment, i think you are putting your company at risk for having a drug user ( social or otherwise) or anyone that has a DWI on their record. God forbid something happens, an accident, and what happens if your employee tests positive for drugs? say goodbye to your business - especially here in new york state - we have implemented a policy now of random drug tests and we have our insurance company run our guys drivers licenses every year for a DMV report ( with their consent of course) We have come across an employee or two that told when they are going for drugscreening have admitted smoking pot and then it comes down to, do you want your job or do you want to smoke pot and then the decision is theirs.

[Guest Signtiffic]

That sounds like more than a fair proposition to me Michelle. Considering the tough regs and even tougher insurance regulations in NY what you're doing is very kind.

[HansonSigns]

It's a DOT regulation that all drivers with specialty licenses (CDL's) have to be in a random drug screening pool. We only have four drivers that qualify for that, and none of them have any issue with the tests. (I get the job of letting them know they've won the PeeInACup contest). And we get annual DVM reports on all our employees who drive company vehicles. And everyone got bluetooth headsets early last year, but are still encouraged to pull off the road to take phone calls.

[chatterbox]

Just a quick, very important, note to Sign Owners who have a shop with portable or mobile equipment:

True story.

A company in Long Beach laid off some Sign Installers (who were known drug users). These Sign Installers (note: not all sign installers are drug users) were laid off because of their "obvious" drug addiction.

One month later, they came back and stole ALL the very expensive paint guns, power tools, and well, everything they could carry.

So, get some sleep and come to work alert. Use wisdom in business. Leave the bleeding heart for your volunteer work at the local shelter. Business is business. You have other employees to employ. They work. Run your business and stay awake.

California, it looks like, is ABOUT TO LEGALIZE mar-igu-ana. Yeah. Mexico, 6 months ago, legalized small portions of it. It's coming. Are you ready?

Mike B.

Chatterbox Designs

Los Angeles, CA

[sunshine]

We random test, per the Feds, our CDL drivers and do a pre-employment drug screen on all shop and crew hires. Anyone who tests positive on the pre-hire is not hired, period. It's just not worth the risk. If anyone comes in smelling like dope or alcohol, or acts impaired, we test them under our "reasonable suspicion" clause. We pretty much have a no tolerance policy.

[Guest Signtiffic]

Seems like everyone is coming to the same or similar conclusions.... it just doesn't make good business sense.

I'd like to point out (and do so explicity noting I'm against drugs in the workplace) there are a number of mid-size to large shops that are very good at what they do and perform very well who would lose half of thier workforce if they went hardcore with enforcement.

It's one of those things..... nobody really makes it a public issue and nobody "allows" it at work.

That doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

In regards to CDL operators..... well that's a given. Nobody in their right mind should be risking their company to employ a druggie behind the wheel of a very heavy peice of equipment.

[signtst]

With 20 years in the industry I've seen my share of employees come and go due to drug use. I've also had to eliminate a few from the ranks due to heavy use. Thankfully I have not had a workplace that has had any severe or wide spread users, but the few that did really were causing liabilities that were unacceptable to the company and other employees. Granted the easy solution is to just terminate the employee, however be cautious. Retaliation and sometimes even state regulations can get in the way of your easy solutions to the problem. Thankfully the instigators are usually not determined or capable enough to see any retaliation through or pursue any legal actions. However, some states mandate rehab before termination if they are senior staff. Anyone had any bad experiences with not being able to get rid of a user?

[tdexxx]

If a sign shop employee is a pot user in California and has a medical marijuana card, and that person loses his or her job as the result of testing positive on a drug screening, then I wonder if that person has cause to sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act?

[Guest Signtiffic]

I would think this would/could be superceded by the Federal and DOT laws specifically the ones pertaining to operating heavy equipment. Regardless if you are a card carrying pot head or not it's very likely there are rules about what you can do while on it.

Plus there has to be some protection for the employer... what if it's written policy? In a handbook, handout, etc which specifically states no drug use and not complying with such is grounds for termination.

[jerseysign]

We have a zero tolerance policy.

Its not something we take lighly, if you are suspected, your tested, if you fail, your gone, doesnt matter the position.

[consign]

We have a zero tolerance policy.

Its not something we take lighly, if you are suspected, your tested, if you fail, your gone, doesnt matter the position.

In Ontario Canada you can't even smoke tobacco in the workplace or in Company owned vehicles. The fines for doing so are quite heavy.

consign

[jerseysign]

Cant smoke indoors in New Jersey, they havent hit the cars yet, but now that you mentioned it...