Drug Testing

The use of drug testing by companies to screen applicants and employees is not an invasion of privacy and a necessary practice to ensure a safe working environment. Removal of drugs from the workplace is more important than an employee's right to privacy. Once the employee accepts the position in a company the company has the right to test for drugs to guarantee the safety of other workers, and potential consumers. The company must also use drug testing to prevent lawsuit possibilities from the employee using who has been injured on the job, from co-workers who were hurt by the drug user, or the consumer who was inadvertently harmed because of impairment of drug use. Since drug use affects judgment, reaction time, coordination, and other areas vital to doing your job then nothing pertaining to your job performance should be private when considering the greater good of the company and its consumers. Any activity that could be harmful to yourself or others should be closely monitored by the company. The implementation of polygraphs, however, should be avoided because many different outside factors could cause inaccuracies to appear on the test for instance, an overly stressed person.

Kant's duty based ethics could be applied in this situation. People are an ends themselves and not just a means to an end. People are not the means to profits but an end to be protected by employers through mandatory drug tests for all employees. The company has a duty to protect its workers from any hazards in the workplace including high employees. Universalism can be applied as well because there is no exception to drug testing within a company and that all employees receive the test to protect all workers. All people are treated equally without exemption.