New minefield in your screening/hiring process: Prescription meds

by Tim Gould

Would you hire an applicant who admits he/she takes methadone? The answer might be a little trickier than you thought.  

The EEOC has recently filed suit against against temp agency Randstad, which allegedly refused to hire a recovering drug addict who was using methadone.

Here’s how the EEOC described the situation: April Cox, a recovering drug addict, hadn’t used illegal drugs since being enrolled in a medically supervised rehabilitation program in 2011.  She received medically prescribed methadone as part of her ongoing, supervised drug rehabilitation treatment.


In January 2015, she applied with Randstad in Timonium, Md., for a vacant production laborer position at one of the staffing agency’s clients.  Randstad’s site manager told Cox she had enough experience to advance to the next part of the hiring process and requested that Cox provide a urine sample for a pre-employment drug text.

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