WORKER DRUG USE HARDER TO MASK

A friend in college sat on his living room floor, surrounded by a
bunch of different bottles, hoping their contents would help him snag
a prestigious internship.

The problem? To get the internship, he needed to take a drug test. And
he knew he'd never pass.

The bottles were supposed to hide his drug habit -- along with all the
water he hoped to guzzle and supplements he'd buy from a nutritional
store.

Whether you're a habitual or occasional drug user, such tests can
wreck a career -- or at least prevent you from getting or keeping a
job.

And it is only getting harder for workers to hide such a problem.

More companies have inserted such tests into their hiring process and
have added more drugs such as Ecstasy to their testing palette, said
Paul Mladineo, vice president of strategic development for Sterling
Testing Systems, a New York City-based employment testing company.

Your potential bosses are also getting more sophisticated, he added.

Next time you walk into a job interview, instead of herding you
off-site for a urine test, they might pluck a hair off your head or
swab the inside of your mouth.

These hair and saliva tests -- which federal agencies are thinking
about adopting -- aren't as invasive as urine screenings and are
better able to foil workers' attempts to cheat the system.

"A worker can no longer claim that they got lost or couldn't find the
lab," said Mladineo. "Especially if they need more time to clear
something out."

So what is a worker with a bad habit to do? Tell your superior.

"An employer will be more open to potentially hiring somebody who may
have a drug problem if they are open and upfront about it," said Mladineo.

Just don't try to cheat the test. "It's really not that easy," he added.

About 60 percent of companies nationally test new hires for drugs,
according to the American Management Association.

Drug users can hurt a company's bottom line. Such workers cost
employers nationwide $75 billion to $100 billion annually in lost
time, accidents, workers' compensation and health care costs,
according to U.S. Labor Department estimates.

They also cause 65 percent of all workplace accidents. And drug users
use 16 times as many health care benefits and are six times more
likely to file worker's compensation claims.

Workers in New York who fail the drug test and lose their jobs have
little legal recourse, said Nelson Thomas of Dolin, Thomas & Solomon,
employment law specialists. Although you might have a case if you
think your test was discriminatory.

"I'd love to tell you that there's a way to win, but there virtually
isn't," said Thomas. "Employees need to be careful. Often, employers
don't tell you when they're drug testing. So if you're a drug user,
you might consider not using drugs a few months prior to switching
jobs," he said.