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02-05-2012, 05:54 PM
Have any of you ever had to take or heard of taking a nicotine drug test for a job? There is a Fortune 500 company that is recruiting me but they have a tobacco free policy for new hires. Last I checked cigars and other nicotine producing products are legal in this country. I am sure this has something to do with their group insurance policy or their otherwise loving and caring for their employees. But this is crap as far as I am concerned. Anyway they claim to have a test that picks up any trace of nicotine in the last 6 months. I researched it online and this appears not to be true. I did ask around and they said once you pass the test they will never test you again and that there are plenty of known smokers that work there. So I might piss in the cup and see what happens.
The whole point of this is that I was wondering how common this practice is in today's HR Departments. What can we do about it?
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Just tell them you are on a nicotine patch. Hell, the government uses it for Alzheimer's patients. lol
Git R Dun!
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I have a friend that works for Reynolds and Reynolds in Dayton, OH... he can't smoke because they do those tests... they have a strict no tobacco policy for ALL workers... not just new hires... and you can be tested as often as they like. He himself has been tested 3 times in less than a year.
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--Graham
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That is such BS!
Branden
If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?
Vince Lombardi
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HR departments go in to a lot more than if you smoke an occasional cigar these days.
Financial checks
Background checks
Criminal record checks
Terrorist checks
Writing analysed
Mental health tests
On top of the usual pee in a cup and blood checks.
I have had all of the above done to me but never a nicotine test.
Wear a nicotine patch and tell them you have been clean for 4 weeks
The 2 most important days of your life are: The day you were born & the day you find out why
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at my job CDL Drivers(Commercial drivers Licence)have to get random urine test they love it because they can stay all day" i cant pee "lol 1 new guy they told him go in the bathroom and give us a sample he gave them a sample LOL it wasnt Pee or sh-- either
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I'm unsure how they can test for nicotine after 6 months. Nicotine flushes from the body in between 48 and 72 hours after its last ingested. It isnt stored like sugars or fats. I would love to see the science on that test.
Aside from that, I am wondering on the legality of those tests. Tobacco and alcohol are both legal in the USA. In 99.9% of the jobs I am aware of, it is illegal to be under the influence of alcohol at work as it is a mind altering substance. But cigars and cigarettes are not illegal, nor are they mind altering. And while I can certainly understand the company saying no tobacco on the premises, (such as hospitals do around here at least) where do said companies get the 'right' to tell you what you can and cannot do, when not scheduled to be at work. And placing that clause of no-nicotine, etc etc into a job contract has got to be discrimination. I think it is ridiculous that my wife and I have to pay higher insurance premiums, because we smoke the occasional cigar. Why not make that idiot pay more because he ski's. Or that person because their nimrod children skateboard, or those people, because they drink alcohol?
Why wont they? Because I am only one voice. And smokers never really get united. Just look at the taxes most of us pay, and then get told we cant smoke almost everywhere.
But I imagine that the hysteria associated with anything tobacco....nobody will care, and you wont get the job if you continue to smoke the cigars. Sorry man.
...moving along...nothing left to see here.
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Wasn't there a study floating (I think the doc referenced it in an article he wrong) around that talked about how people smoking cigarets had high levels of nicotine compared to cigar smokers and non-smokers..
Non smokers hovered around something like 0-1 units of something that correlated to nicotine... Cigar smokers (who smoke 2-3 cigars/day) had like 1-3 units of whatever they were measuring... And cigaret smokers had like 200-300 units of that same thing.
The point being, If you want the job... I'd lay off cigars until the test, go in, take it... If something comes up, i'd say I eat lots of eggplant and potatoes or that I was on a patch or something...
I've personally never ran into such a test... But, I suspect its a away to preemptively weed people out.
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I just got life insurance and didn't want to be a smoker and get the higher rate. I laid off cigars for 2 weeks and took the test Friday. I read online and teck is right. It leves your system in 24 to 72 hours. Not sure if I passed but I will know soon!
