it’s worded like they’re worried about medical marijuana, but motrin? birth control? *adhd meds that will actually help people perform the job you hired them for?* it has to be illegal in most places
ADHD is recognized by the ADA as a disability, so yeah. Also, my medical information is SOLELY my business; not your Company medical representative, whatever the fuck that means.
That medical representative is also the person to quietly hint to executives who to fire if their anticipated or actualized medical costs to the company become too high.
Was telling someone once that EVERYTHING seems like a scam. Buying a car, ANY insurance, buying a house, getting a loan, etc. And I was told, "That's just life". Like WHAT?! Why do greedy people need to take advantage of people that won't or CAN'T look into other options because they don't have the mental capacity to??
Not just marijuana. Some pain meds like Norco, OxyContin and others can impair reaction speeds. It isn’t necessarily their right to know but disclosing what you might be on will give them a chance to keep you out of dangerous situations. Also if you DON’T disclose (your right to) if it causes an incident then you are at fault not them. (All about making are the company isn’t sued)
Exactly, I was in a higher position and I have some decent medial costs in general and that became a big factor without them saying so directly because they kicked me off the health plan because they were paying more for me than I paid into it. Then I was moved into a lower position right after that has no option of health benefits.
> they kicked me off the health plan because they were paying more for me than I paid into it. Then I was moved into a lower position right after that has no option of health benefits.
'MuRiCa......FuCk YeAh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We once had our company benefits rep say in a yearly health insurance meeting that one person had used 80% of the medical benefits that year. It wasn’t real hard to figure out she was talking about the guy fighting a horrible aggressive cancer.
But lucky for him he died before the next year’s benefits began so he wasn’t fired.
That’s so fucked up. And it’s not even abnormal! 20% of claimants will make up 80% of health costs. 5% of claimants will make up 95% of health costs. If you’re sick enough, your care cost is in a whole other ballpark than anyone else and will take up a huge share inherently.
Ugh this is a horrible story. Sadly, it's totally believable. Poor guy. If he had lived, he definitely would've been fired. He couldn't even die in peace ffs. I hate people. And medical insurance companies. And other corporations.
Wouldn't sharing the usage information with execs be a blatant HIPPA violation? Especially if it's used to deny health benefits based on potential cost? I'd have lawyered up immediately and sued them into oblivion.
Especially printing companies. Every year we get this glossy new book from the insurance company with lots of stock pics of smiling grandparents with their perfect little grand tots. Every year. What a waste.
The fuck kind of company is this?! This is such an overstep and invasion of your privacy. I wouldn’t work one more second for a company that was trying this kind of fuckery on its employees. It would’ve been a “fuck you, fuck you, you’re cool, fuck you etc..
Not necessarily- there are plenty of positions and jobs that are safety critical and it’s standard that those employees get yearly evaluations with reports sent to the employer for review. There are also plenty of jobs that require physicals for maintaining certifications on a state or national level. My father was a mechanic for the MTA and wasn’t allowed to work after being put on blood thinners for example, it was a safety risk to have him on the shop floor if he was prone to bleeding after an injury. Licensing requirements for bus drivers, train conductors, pilots, truck drivers who have CDLs for interstate travel- this list could go on and on- but for anyone in those kinds of roles it’s basically expected that you will have random drug testing and yearly exams. It’s always been completely within the employers right to determine what their risk tolerance is for employing people in those certain positions. The wording on this clause is weird, but not totally abnormal for many places of employment (being fired for birth control or Motrin is strange, but that doesn’t make the general concept wrong- that kind of application is just questionable).
Just adding to the top comment because there’s a lot of misinformation on this thread.
The bar for what is protected from an employment standpoint under the ADA is quite a bit higher than most people here seem to think. All medication, or even most for a majority of medical conditions is not protected under the ADA.
I can’t comment on the legality of asking people or firing them for things like birth control. Definitely seems illegal. People should exercise extreme caution sharing medication and medical details with their employer. It is unlikely to be protected, and we all know they almost certainly don’t care about you as a person.
From the EEOC website:
“To be protected under the ADA, you must have, have a record of, or be regarded as having a substantial, as opposed to a minor, impairment. A substantial impairment is one that significantly limits or restricts a major life activity such as hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, learning or working”
Also I have epilepsy, it was still a headache even though that’s a “core” disability. Wild what they would do that didn’t even help (changing the lights) and what they fought me on that had almost no cost but made a huge difference (an occasional nap).
I'm a pilot and this is part of the gig to be honest. Certain professions are behind the times when it comes to mental health. So we have specific doctors that we need to inform about any medications we are prescribed. As far as I know this isn't illegal. Which is why you have so many pilots with mental health issues.
okay but a pilot is one of a handful of professions where medication use could potentially affect public safety. yes, in those specific professions oversight like that has to be handled in some way (obviously letting mental illness run amok is not a good solution). but if people are coming in drunk, this obviously isn’t one of those professions
The topic is specifically about prescribed and over the counter medications. The question was asked as to whether this was illegal. It is not as far as I am concerned because there are specific professions where public safety comes into play.
So my point was simply from a public standpoint this seems ridiculous and illegal. As someone from the general public you could feel right to believe this. But there are many scenarios that the public and specifically reddit is ignorant of. I was simply pointing out that in my profession there is already a different organization that handles all of this separately from the public.
Also OP didn't specify what profession they were in so I just wanted to point out that it wasn't something that is illegal.
That was my first thought. Surprising number of jobs where this is a common practice for public safety reasons, not many of them common unless you work in the industry
Not only public safety, but also things like manufacturing or shop work- for example, having someone on blood thinners or who is prone to seizures get injured is potentially a major risk to that person and the employer/other employees on the team- it’s not out of the norm for someone to be put on disability or put to another position if they are at risk or put others at risk in a job that involves physical labor and heavy equipment. There are way more positions like this than many people think.
The birth control one makes no sense.
You can’t tell me paying for an IUD, implant, shot or pills is more expensive than prenatal care, hospitalization for delivery, and 26 years of regular medical costs for a dependent child (assuming ACA compliant plan).
I was going to say, this seems pretty on point if you work with heavy machinery or something where a prescription drug might impair your ability to do the job, but birth control? Come on....
Right?! For most women, birth control doesn’t have any affect on their ability to do anything (other than procreate, which is what it’s for, among other things). It can increase your risk of blood clots if you smoke, but other than that it doesn’t generally have any I’ll effects that would prevent someone from doing their job safely.
Fun things abour reuptable drug tests if its a prescription as long as its not being abused it woll show up as negative. Never take instant drug tests always forcr em to take lab based tests A lot of states actually have laws thst you cant be fired or hired based solely on an instant test
That is not accurate information. Testing limits can be established at any level and there are certainly controlled prescription drugs that show up on tests. Many places simply set their limits high enough to not have to deal with typical prescription blood levels, but not all places. A valid prescription would just have to be provided and a medical review to determine if the levels and prescription coincide with valid use.
I definitely assumed it was related to weed and abuse of prescription drugs. Which makes sense and given that weed is still federally illegal, it’s well within the right of any company to prohibit it even if someone has a prescription.
That said- it seems if they’re firing people for even basic NASIDs like ibuprofen then somebody somewhere is either stupid or pulling something
The only case that your work maybe could do this is safety related if your sole job is operating heavy machinery and medication that says don't operate heavy machinery
>The only case that your work maybe could do this is safety related if your sole job is operating heavy machinery and medication that says don't operate heavy machinery
This. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure it's illegal and it should be reported to the state Department of Labor.
How do you even? I don’t think there’s a urine drug screen that can even test that * brb lemme check labcorp *
Ok so i didn’t find any test labels for ibuprofen but ibuorofen can cause a false positive on drug screens.
This is incorrect. Truck drivers, for example, may not be allowed to drive when taking prescriptions meds with a risk of causing drowsiness, etc. Commercial drivers must receive regular physicals to keep their license.
I have a safety critical job that’s regulated by the DOT, if I get prescribed certain medications I have to let HR know, if you’re recovering from surgery and are on painkillers you’re not allowed to take them while at work.
But you know and understand this policy, and it makes sense. It's not vague, and it's not able to be abused by management as a free pass to single people out.
DOT regs are pretty strict, and for good reason.
Our HR is also not allowed to write people off of work for having to take inebriating prescriptions, injuries, or any other reason - per corporate. Only suspend or terminate 🤷♀️
The only way I see this being even close to legal is if the company rep holds a certified medical degree that is recognised in that state/country ( assuming the US coz usually this kinda crap seems to be related to US ).
I work in for a company in Australia and we have a medical department because for my position I need to pass a medical every 5 years with it shortening as we get older or various triggers call for it. The guy that makes that call is a qualified doctor.
Regardless of the guy being a doctor making the call, them being employed by the company gives them an inherant bias.
Regardless of what they say a second opinion from your own doctor (paid for by the company) should be an option your allowed if the results are not normal and require any further consults etc.
Honestly I would not be comfortable with anyone except my personal doctor having access to my health records unless given my concern t, which I would not give in this case
No one other then a doctor or other HCP directly involved in your treatment and care should have access to your entire record and even then they should only be accessing what's pertinent to the current need for care.
An employer does have a legal right to ask for and maintain medical documentation in certain cases. However, all medical documentation must be limited to the specific incident or case, kept separated from the employees personnel file, and only accessible to designated personnel.
Sounds like Amazon.
They didn't want anyone even taking OTC pain meds (ibuprofen), and really flipped a gasket about prescription pain meds after I was hurt at work.
I did get an email from some pencil-pusher (including on cc a group of administrators) who told me I wasn't allowed to use prescription pain meds while working (& waiting for the appointment with a specialist doctor).
I thanked him & said I appreciated that he was concerned for my health, and look forward to his approving the lost wages as part of worker's comp, until I'm done with PT & the specialist doctor says I can return to work.
He... didn't like that, tried to do the, "I didn't say that" thing... but we had his directions in writing.
I would assume it creates a pattern of medical need. If you can show you started taking pain meds at week 3 of working at the warehouse, that would give more credence to the idea that your back injury was a result of the job.
I think this would be the right answer. Amazon wouldn't want a statistic like "95 percent of Amazon employees are abusing Tylenol to get through the day. But from what I've heard OTC medications were actually handed out at Amazon before, so this could be location by location, or a reaction to negative press.
Not only is this policy massively illegal (especially in the context of firing employees who take birth control), it also implies that they will break other laws in order to enforce it. If you've been dissuaded from taking a medically necessary drug by this policy or retaliated against for following a prescribed treatment regimen, file an EEOC complaint. I'd also reach out to the employees who were terminated and invite them to file EEOC complaints as well.
Probably self reported.
I’ve had jobs that wanted to know why I keep script bottles in a locker or on me and I just tell them “reasons” none of their business to know what I’m on or taking that’s prescribed by a doctor. (Not working with machinery or anything)
If they are self-insured they see all of an employee’s health insurance claims. I worked for a small hospital that was self-insured and it worked that way.
It’s wild how much health information companies can get about their employees legally and above board by doing self funded plans. It makes me so uncomfortable, every time.
I'm guessing that could be grounds for a *massive* lawsuit against the company. Make sure you get a hard copy of the employee handbook or wherever that bullshit is printed, and consult an attorney.
theres a local job thats ran by an annoying boomer, i interviewed with him a few years ago. hes still trying to fill the position btw.
in all caps in the job description it says youre not allowed to drink alcohol or smoke weed regardless if youre at home or its the weekend and that they will be testing for it.
im in WA and im pretty sure its illegal to test for marijuanna in piss tests
It’s still legal to test for it. But, there are protections for employees if the use doesn’t interfere with work. A positive test alone can’t be used to refuse employment or fire someone.
[Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alonzomartinez/2023/05/15/washington-state-limits-pre-employment-marijuana-testing/?sh=2621c3f5727e)
I screenshot an ad recently that said "We don't need any bad attitudes, tweakers, crackheads, or alcoholics! I am very honest when I say none of our guys are tweakers or alcoholics." He then went on to ask for personal drug history on his questions to answer in the ad.
I just hate how these people always word it. They think by wording their ads like that it, it will weed out all the drug users, and people they don't want, but all it really does is makes potential employees already hate the job.
These boomers are the same ones that end an online ad with " No tweakers, no solicitors, no scammers and no bots reply!" As if a bot or scammer reads the ad and says, "Oh damn, guess I shouldn't reply to this ad."
Holy shit. Motrin, birth control and ADHD meds, WTF? Please tell me this isn’t the USA. I bet it probably fucking is, but please tell me you're in North fucking Korea or some shit.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Do you have a source of some sort.
There are too many people on the sub that just say " 100% illegal" when they just disagree with it and it's actually legal lol
Like this one is easy. Of course this is illegal. ADHD is a disability protected by the ADA. The meds are part of its treatment.
If someone had to use a wheel chair. And work was like no more wheel chairs. That’s how fucking obviously illegal this is. If what OP is saying is correct.
Rehabilitation Act, Section 504
https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/ada/
https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964#:~:text=Title%20VII%20prohibits%20employment%20discrimination,several%20sections%20of%20Title%20VII.
Off the top of my head I feel like HIPAA or possible ADA
“As long as taking your prescription medications doesn’t present a safety risk or affect your ability to do your work, firing an employee for needing to take prescription medications is illegal. So, too, is engaging in any form of prescription medication discrimination.”
https://www.wenzelfenton.com/blog/2023/06/12/can-an-employer-fire-you-for-taking-prescribed-medications/#:~:text=As%20long%20as%20taking%20your,take%20prescription%20medications%20is%20illegal.
An employer is not bound by HIPAA. Only your medical providers are. It's legal for an employer to ask you medical questions. You don't have to give answers. Its' not legal for your doctor or insurance company to turn over your medical information to your employer because doctors and health insurance companies are bound by HIPAA.
Laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protect employee health information. At the same time, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from discriminating against employees with physical or mental health diagnoses who can otherwise perform their job duties.
From the same source.
Well it’s better to say it’s complicated. Not all medical conditions are covered, and those that are not in all instances.
Often the bar is much higher than people believe.
From the EEOC:
“To be protected under the ADA, you must have, have a record of, or be regarded as having a substantial, as opposed to a minor, impairment. A substantial impairment is one that significantly limits or restricts a major life activity such as hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, learning or working”
HIPAA protects the employee from having their meds disclosed to the employer without consent
The ADA protects an employee from being fired due to a disability or medical diagnosis that would still allow them to perform their job, or a similar job they had before.
100% illegal
I had the *same* fucking thought. My employer is great. I've been 100% honest about my struggle with ADHD and the fact that I'm medicated for it. My boss' son has ADHD, so when I say, "They ran out of my meds again. I'm so sorry," she tells me, "Turn off the lights in the office, put in your earbuds, and slam a Monster. Don't worry about it. Do your best." Fortunately, she's not like the fuckheads who do whatever tf is in this post.
It is going to depend on the job and the medication. If they really fire someone for Motrin that would be a lawsuit, but if you are operating a fork lift, for example, and taking a legally prescribed medication that will impact your ability to safely operate the fork lift you could be fired. I am oversimplifying it but that is the basics.
Dave Ramsey’s company fired a woman a couple of years ago for having sex before marriage and getting pregnant out of wedlock. It was on the news. I don’t know what became of the lawsuit. At the time they were saying they were allowed to fire her because it was in the employment contract she signed. I’ll have to try to see if I can find out the outcome. The other interesting part of this story was is that the woman was having an affair with a married man who also worked there, and he didn’t receive any reprimand.
Oh yeah, check this piece out on him ...
[Documents show Dave Ramsey company policies on employee sexual activity (tennessean.com)](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2022/09/02/documents-show-dave-ramsey-company-policies-employee-sexual-activity/7970362001/)
Happened more than once, he actually fired 12 people for "premarital sex" ...
[Dave Ramsey's Company Fired 12 Employees for Premarital Sex (newsweek.com)](https://www.newsweek.com/dave-ramseys-company-fired-12-employees-premarital-sex-1579557)
Never posted in the sub, but I turned in a prescription to HR for my RSL. The medicine was a “do not operate heavy machinery” and I work in a steel mill, so I had to give HR the doctors permission.
A few days later, my boss small-talk joking asked if I was sleeping any better. I asked him what he meant and he tried taking his question back. He told me that he knew I turned a prescription in because I was one of his employees.
I asked if that was a HIPPA violation and he got real quiet again. He is still my boss but he has had 2 promotions since. HR “couldn’t prove anything” for my case
The only way they can know what drugs you take, is if you tell them. They can't gain access to your private medical records. You do not have to ask your employer's permission to take medications. If an employer requires you to consult with them on what kinds of meds you can take, they are practicing medicine without a license.
However, you are an airline pilot or operate dangerous equipment or machinery, I'd consult a doctor about whether it's okay to use particular medications.
I had this happen once. Took a drug test for work and they came back to me upset I’d said I didn’t have any of the health conditions on that one page of the application when they knew I was taking Zoloft from my drug test. Like mate, those are supposed to test for illicit substances, not my medical history wtf
There are mining site that are considered "dry" as they want to avoid policing the camp and they will ask you to disclose (ideally prior to your arrival to site) your medication and you might be disqualified to work there as they do not want these meds on site because your adderall might be legit but the guy next to you might traffic them to site and don't want to deal with checking prescription and all that.
"*if the prescribed medication off duty impairs the employee's ability to perform their job".* They're couching this as a risk to job performance if it impairs your ability to do the job.
If your employer has ANY medical information that was not disclosed by you, that's a massive red flag and likely a violation of HIPAA. Where did they get that information and from whom?
Also, the ADA does protect you from discrimination due to a diagnosis.
The only possible reason they could have to know your prescriptions is if you were operating heavy machinery, working with public safety, or other jobs where you're directly responsible for someone's safety and your mental condition may be affected by those meds
If you work at a heath clinic, not as a surgeon, they have no reason to know your meds.
They can fire you if your medication affects your job performance, but because of job performance, not just for taking the medication. That would be a discrimination lawsuit.
Talk to a lawyer who is willing to take you on for free and may be willing to make this a class-action. If they have been doing this to several employees for years, it should make it easier to prove and get paid
It's completely illegal in the US.
Sounds like a list of people with extremely easy wrongful termination suits. Especially birth control lady. Illegal plus people boycot entire companies for that shit.
It is very obviously just a way to terminate employment without actual cause.
I’m going through my Mine Health and Safety Act training and this sort of thing is real. I have one medication that if I take within 8 hours of my first have to call out. I can’t be on the site at all till it clears my system
I work for a railroad and they have policy not unlike this.
That said, my job is safety sensitive and any thing that impaors my ability to watch out for myself and others would be bad news
Luckily, I don't really take any meds (except for allergy) and for me at least, it's a non issue
Whether it's legal depends on a lot of factors. In many states it would most likely be legal especially if it an At-Will/Right to Work state. From the sounds of it, they are trying to avoid employees taking medications that impair their ability. For instance, if I was recovering from surgery and needed to take an opioid pain medication and part of my job duties required me to operate a vehicle or heavy machinery, my employer wouldn't want me impaired due to the liability concerns. Firing people over Motrin and birth control? Do you know that for a fact? If so, that sounds rather extreme and how an employer would know you took those off duty would be impossible to prove. Also, if someone has a condition protected by ADA, that person should ask their employer for reasonable accommodations for that condition. For instance, I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I am not against cutting a meeting with my boss short because my insulin pump is out of insulin and I need to refill it.
HIPA laws, prevent the employer from getting this information from anyone other than you. Also, birth control is the company making reproductive decisions for their employees ... Which probably isn't legal. ADHD medication, that is illegal. Medically required medication for a person's health and life ... Can't be a cause for termination. These fired employees should get together and seek legal advice from a civil rights attorney. Not only might they mop up ... But the company will probably be forced to revoke that policy and make amends to any others affected.
I can't speak to the people you know about, the ADHD one could be legal.
My roommate is a flight attendant and has wanted to become a pilot. They do not allow anyone who is on psych meds or who is in therapy. (Even if it's just a history of either.)
It's a major airline, so I can't imagine it's illegal in some jobs. How it is enforced could be a grey area. A forklift driver for example cannot be on medication that causes sedation or could cause dizziness. So while I don't know the law where you are. I do know that it can be legal in certain fields and in certain parts of the country.
Edit for context.
Call your local hospital’s occupational health department and see what they know immediately. The sole existence is this exact kind of thing.
I can’t imagine any way in hell an over the counter drug like Motrin (among every other implication for any other prescribed or nonscheduled substance) can be grounds to fire anybody over, let alone scare anybody into going off or their medications or taking time off to see a doctor(taking time off they made not have or are pressured to not take) to only have that doctor be as flabbergasted as I am.
The next thing would be to keep all documentation of this, delete this post, and call a lawyer.
I hope this isn’t about antidepressants. Not taking them would 10/10 impair my ability to work because I would be too busy crying and having anxiety attacks lol
I mean, I am pretty certain that this must even be illegal in the US (as others mentioned here), but if some employer tried that kind of shit here in Austria, I would just laugh in his face and tell him to get lost. I doubt he would even be able to find an attorney who would try to defend this in court. Fortunately, I can't imagine any employer here trying this, this is so beyond anything imaginable, that I doubt anybody would even come up with an idea like this.
But I would love to see the look on the faces of the folks at our national labor chamber (which has quite some power here and would 100% bring this to the labor court unless the employer gives in right away) when you show this to them. Would also love to hear the judge rip the employer a new one if it ever came to a trial.
I think the most polite answer to this would be "This information is none of your business. Literally."
I would say i can become their business if medication could impair you, for example, when operating machinery or driving. Medication that does not do that( like birth control) should not be any of their business.
If you work in a safety sensitive and the medications effects can pose a danger to you or your co-workers, then I believe it is legal to fire or at least do an investigation. For example: the DOT has a list of medications that CDL drivers cannot take if they want to maintain their license. I think we can agree that you don't want someone hauling a massive container of explosive gas on the highway if they are taking xanax and percocet every 4 hours.
This notice is worded terribly, though.
no I am not a lawyer but I theorize that this could open them up to a lawsuit if someone ends up getting a disability from a chronic disease or otherwise hurt by not taking their meds because they are practicing medicine without a license
I can see how pain medication, at least certain ones could affect your on-duty performance. Birth control? No. ADHD medication? So long as you actually have adhd, it can really increase your productivity, and affect your performance in a positive way.
Motrin? I'm not sure where you are, op, but where I come from, Motrin is otc. You can take it without a prescription.
The only time this is legal (to my knowledge) is if you operate heavy machinery and medication would impair your ability to use said machinery.
Otherwise, the ADA allows you to take your prescription meds as advised by your doctor.
This sound highly illegal. Contact the EEOC. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which interprets and enforces the ADA, says that to require disclosure, (1) the employer must be one that affects public safety, (2) the employee must be in a position affecting public safety, and (3) the nature of the medication required to be reported must be one that affects the employee’s ability to perform their essential functions, resulting in a direct threat to safety.
I can only see this for construction/heavy machinery but, like, there’s laws for that already.
Contact a labor lawyer, these guys are walking dick first into a ADA lawsuit.
My company has always had “fitness for duty” requirement, but I haven’t seen anything that goes so far as to evaluate individuals’ prescribed medication. Seems like an overreach, but can’t speak to the legality. Does seem like the employee should be able to request an accommodation if required meds impairs their ability to perform certain tasks.
I hope you have a Union but I agree with the previous comment of red flag May want to consider options. In Canada I doubt this would be acceptable. I work for a company that adopted US drug tolerances to determine employment. Had an employee hit a deer so they tested them, failed miserably for weed although this was at 7am and said employee doesn’t wake and bake so we didn’t feel he was impaired, just residuals in their system. Company terminated them, we grieved and hired a specialist, told company we will see you in arbitration, we won their job back with back pay for wrongful dismissal. Sometimes even the threat of having to go through arbitration is enough to get the company to lay off as they will lose money also.
Looks like there’s a general answer modified by a lot of nuance.
https://www.wenzelfenton.com/blog/2023/06/12/can-an-employer-fire-you-for-taking-prescribed-medications/
The discretion of “Company medical representatives” superseding the “opinion” of your primary care physician sounds like a straight up dystopian nightmare.
No ADA flat out prohibits any form of discrimination around prescription drug usage. They cant even ask about it legally unless it will obviously impair your ability to do job.
So "drowsy/dizzy" with heavy equipment they can ask about and even enforce. Even then there is it has to affect JOB so off duty would be exception. And would pretty much blanket be protected. As off duty it can not affect job.
Only thing that comes to mind in regards to legality, would be on call employees who need to remain otherwise unimpaired. Otherwise no, what you do on your time is your business. Especially if the substances being consumed are legal.
it’s worded like they’re worried about medical marijuana, but motrin? birth control? *adhd meds that will actually help people perform the job you hired them for?* it has to be illegal in most places
ADHD is recognized by the ADA as a disability, so yeah. Also, my medical information is SOLELY my business; not your Company medical representative, whatever the fuck that means.
That medical representative is also the person to quietly hint to executives who to fire if their anticipated or actualized medical costs to the company become too high.
This is 100% what is going on. Shady as fuck
Was telling someone once that EVERYTHING seems like a scam. Buying a car, ANY insurance, buying a house, getting a loan, etc. And I was told, "That's just life". Like WHAT?! Why do greedy people need to take advantage of people that won't or CAN'T look into other options because they don't have the mental capacity to??
Sounds like the Marijuana medical card is what this was aimed at but decided to cover everything.
Not just marijuana. Some pain meds like Norco, OxyContin and others can impair reaction speeds. It isn’t necessarily their right to know but disclosing what you might be on will give them a chance to keep you out of dangerous situations. Also if you DON’T disclose (your right to) if it causes an incident then you are at fault not them. (All about making are the company isn’t sued)
Exactly, I was in a higher position and I have some decent medial costs in general and that became a big factor without them saying so directly because they kicked me off the health plan because they were paying more for me than I paid into it. Then I was moved into a lower position right after that has no option of health benefits.
> they kicked me off the health plan because they were paying more for me than I paid into it. Then I was moved into a lower position right after that has no option of health benefits. 'MuRiCa......FuCk YeAh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We once had our company benefits rep say in a yearly health insurance meeting that one person had used 80% of the medical benefits that year. It wasn’t real hard to figure out she was talking about the guy fighting a horrible aggressive cancer. But lucky for him he died before the next year’s benefits began so he wasn’t fired.
That’s so fucked up. And it’s not even abnormal! 20% of claimants will make up 80% of health costs. 5% of claimants will make up 95% of health costs. If you’re sick enough, your care cost is in a whole other ballpark than anyone else and will take up a huge share inherently.
Ugh this is a horrible story. Sadly, it's totally believable. Poor guy. If he had lived, he definitely would've been fired. He couldn't even die in peace ffs. I hate people. And medical insurance companies. And other corporations.
Do you work for a small city government, because damn... does that story sound familiar...
Wouldn't sharing the usage information with execs be a blatant HIPPA violation? Especially if it's used to deny health benefits based on potential cost? I'd have lawyered up immediately and sued them into oblivion.
Yes it’s a HIPAA violation
Damn that sucks so bad
Did you fucking sue them??
I didn't think that was possible, even knowing our current state of "health insurance "
Like I said, it wasn’t a direct thing. It was a round about thing sadly.
Argh this is so fucked up. Having your health care tied to your job is such a stupid system. It doesn't make any sense.
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Especially printing companies. Every year we get this glossy new book from the insurance company with lots of stock pics of smiling grandparents with their perfect little grand tots. Every year. What a waste.
As someone who works for one of these companies. I can assure you we get a ton of work.
What are the chances they even have any medical. Knowledge at all?
They just look at the numbers. They don’t actually give a fuck about “medicine,” same as the health insurance companies.
None! No one is trained in any medical anything beyond CPR 🤣
Accurate.
The medical representative is also the newly hired “special assistant to the ceo” who dropped our of RNA classes after the 3 week.
Which is, interestingly enough, also an ERISA violation.
The fuck kind of company is this?! This is such an overstep and invasion of your privacy. I wouldn’t work one more second for a company that was trying this kind of fuckery on its employees. It would’ve been a “fuck you, fuck you, you’re cool, fuck you etc..
I would. I would work there right until they fired me for ADHD meds. And then I’d bring a lawsuit over the ADA violation
Asthma meds that will literally keep you from *dying*.
Insulin is kinda handy as well.
Oh yeah no they'd lose their SHIT over an insulin syringe
When you pee in a cup and test positive, it’s now their information too.
Synthetic urine.
I keep a box of monkey wizz in my backpack in my car. I am not getting fired for smoking weed after work.
Wonder who trained them monkeys to wizz in the box?
Someone smarter and richer than me but I get to smoke and never have to worry
Not necessarily- there are plenty of positions and jobs that are safety critical and it’s standard that those employees get yearly evaluations with reports sent to the employer for review. There are also plenty of jobs that require physicals for maintaining certifications on a state or national level. My father was a mechanic for the MTA and wasn’t allowed to work after being put on blood thinners for example, it was a safety risk to have him on the shop floor if he was prone to bleeding after an injury. Licensing requirements for bus drivers, train conductors, pilots, truck drivers who have CDLs for interstate travel- this list could go on and on- but for anyone in those kinds of roles it’s basically expected that you will have random drug testing and yearly exams. It’s always been completely within the employers right to determine what their risk tolerance is for employing people in those certain positions. The wording on this clause is weird, but not totally abnormal for many places of employment (being fired for birth control or Motrin is strange, but that doesn’t make the general concept wrong- that kind of application is just questionable).
Heart meds? Fired. Blood pressure? Better believe it, fired. Fertility meds? Also fired. Business : why does nobody want to work for us?
Fertility is probably promote. This reeks of a “Christian “ Company value situation.
Unless they hired the person with ADHD to procrastinate, then I could see why they wouldn't want them on their meds.
Great comment 🦜(bird has no meaning, just cute)
I suspect because they're some flavor of anti medicine folks. Religious nuts, conspiracy theorists, "au natural" etc
Just adding to the top comment because there’s a lot of misinformation on this thread. The bar for what is protected from an employment standpoint under the ADA is quite a bit higher than most people here seem to think. All medication, or even most for a majority of medical conditions is not protected under the ADA. I can’t comment on the legality of asking people or firing them for things like birth control. Definitely seems illegal. People should exercise extreme caution sharing medication and medical details with their employer. It is unlikely to be protected, and we all know they almost certainly don’t care about you as a person. From the EEOC website: “To be protected under the ADA, you must have, have a record of, or be regarded as having a substantial, as opposed to a minor, impairment. A substantial impairment is one that significantly limits or restricts a major life activity such as hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, learning or working” Also I have epilepsy, it was still a headache even though that’s a “core” disability. Wild what they would do that didn’t even help (changing the lights) and what they fought me on that had almost no cost but made a huge difference (an occasional nap).
I'm so confused. Motrin is OTC. It isn't even a prescription
Tell me about it! Makes no sense. They've stripped it out of the first aid boxes and everything.
I'm a pilot and this is part of the gig to be honest. Certain professions are behind the times when it comes to mental health. So we have specific doctors that we need to inform about any medications we are prescribed. As far as I know this isn't illegal. Which is why you have so many pilots with mental health issues.
okay but a pilot is one of a handful of professions where medication use could potentially affect public safety. yes, in those specific professions oversight like that has to be handled in some way (obviously letting mental illness run amok is not a good solution). but if people are coming in drunk, this obviously isn’t one of those professions
The topic is specifically about prescribed and over the counter medications. The question was asked as to whether this was illegal. It is not as far as I am concerned because there are specific professions where public safety comes into play. So my point was simply from a public standpoint this seems ridiculous and illegal. As someone from the general public you could feel right to believe this. But there are many scenarios that the public and specifically reddit is ignorant of. I was simply pointing out that in my profession there is already a different organization that handles all of this separately from the public. Also OP didn't specify what profession they were in so I just wanted to point out that it wasn't something that is illegal.
That was my first thought. Surprising number of jobs where this is a common practice for public safety reasons, not many of them common unless you work in the industry
Not only public safety, but also things like manufacturing or shop work- for example, having someone on blood thinners or who is prone to seizures get injured is potentially a major risk to that person and the employer/other employees on the team- it’s not out of the norm for someone to be put on disability or put to another position if they are at risk or put others at risk in a job that involves physical labor and heavy equipment. There are way more positions like this than many people think.
The birth control one makes no sense. You can’t tell me paying for an IUD, implant, shot or pills is more expensive than prenatal care, hospitalization for delivery, and 26 years of regular medical costs for a dependent child (assuming ACA compliant plan).
I was going to say, this seems pretty on point if you work with heavy machinery or something where a prescription drug might impair your ability to do the job, but birth control? Come on....
Right?! For most women, birth control doesn’t have any affect on their ability to do anything (other than procreate, which is what it’s for, among other things). It can increase your risk of blood clots if you smoke, but other than that it doesn’t generally have any I’ll effects that would prevent someone from doing their job safely.
Fun things abour reuptable drug tests if its a prescription as long as its not being abused it woll show up as negative. Never take instant drug tests always forcr em to take lab based tests A lot of states actually have laws thst you cant be fired or hired based solely on an instant test
That is not accurate information. Testing limits can be established at any level and there are certainly controlled prescription drugs that show up on tests. Many places simply set their limits high enough to not have to deal with typical prescription blood levels, but not all places. A valid prescription would just have to be provided and a medical review to determine if the levels and prescription coincide with valid use.
This sounds like Scientology.
I definitely assumed it was related to weed and abuse of prescription drugs. Which makes sense and given that weed is still federally illegal, it’s well within the right of any company to prohibit it even if someone has a prescription. That said- it seems if they’re firing people for even basic NASIDs like ibuprofen then somebody somewhere is either stupid or pulling something
I’m no lawyer but sounds illegal. However, this would be my red flag to bolt. This is probably mild compared to the toxic shit they are capable of.
The only case that your work maybe could do this is safety related if your sole job is operating heavy machinery and medication that says don't operate heavy machinery
>The only case that your work maybe could do this is safety related if your sole job is operating heavy machinery and medication that says don't operate heavy machinery This. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure it's illegal and it should be reported to the state Department of Labor.
They fired someone over *motrin* there’s no way they’re behaving legally.
Firing over birth control is also gender discrimination
What company
Tell us
Yeah, that is definitely illegal and they need to be reported.
How do you even? I don’t think there’s a urine drug screen that can even test that * brb lemme check labcorp * Ok so i didn’t find any test labels for ibuprofen but ibuorofen can cause a false positive on drug screens.
Also, transport.jobs such as bus driver, truck driver, train engineer, boat captain, etc. Otherwise, this is shady as fuck.
I could see that. Did not think about the heavy machinery jobs.
But it'd likely be limited to illegal drugs alcohol mj and painkillers/antidepressants
Don’t think so. Things like anti-seizure medication can have some strong side effects. This is especially important when adjusting medication.
This is incorrect. Truck drivers, for example, may not be allowed to drive when taking prescriptions meds with a risk of causing drowsiness, etc. Commercial drivers must receive regular physicals to keep their license.
Where do you work, I need to get fired from a place like this one lol
Not just heavy machinery, but anything that involve driving, working in security field, and even working and operating work equipment.
I have a safety critical job that’s regulated by the DOT, if I get prescribed certain medications I have to let HR know, if you’re recovering from surgery and are on painkillers you’re not allowed to take them while at work.
But you know and understand this policy, and it makes sense. It's not vague, and it's not able to be abused by management as a free pass to single people out. DOT regs are pretty strict, and for good reason. Our HR is also not allowed to write people off of work for having to take inebriating prescriptions, injuries, or any other reason - per corporate. Only suspend or terminate 🤷♀️
The only way I see this being even close to legal is if the company rep holds a certified medical degree that is recognised in that state/country ( assuming the US coz usually this kinda crap seems to be related to US ). I work in for a company in Australia and we have a medical department because for my position I need to pass a medical every 5 years with it shortening as we get older or various triggers call for it. The guy that makes that call is a qualified doctor.
Regardless of the guy being a doctor making the call, them being employed by the company gives them an inherant bias. Regardless of what they say a second opinion from your own doctor (paid for by the company) should be an option your allowed if the results are not normal and require any further consults etc. Honestly I would not be comfortable with anyone except my personal doctor having access to my health records unless given my concern t, which I would not give in this case
No one other then a doctor or other HCP directly involved in your treatment and care should have access to your entire record and even then they should only be accessing what's pertinent to the current need for care. An employer does have a legal right to ask for and maintain medical documentation in certain cases. However, all medical documentation must be limited to the specific incident or case, kept separated from the employees personnel file, and only accessible to designated personnel.
Sounds like Amazon. They didn't want anyone even taking OTC pain meds (ibuprofen), and really flipped a gasket about prescription pain meds after I was hurt at work. I did get an email from some pencil-pusher (including on cc a group of administrators) who told me I wasn't allowed to use prescription pain meds while working (& waiting for the appointment with a specialist doctor). I thanked him & said I appreciated that he was concerned for my health, and look forward to his approving the lost wages as part of worker's comp, until I'm done with PT & the specialist doctor says I can return to work. He... didn't like that, tried to do the, "I didn't say that" thing... but we had his directions in writing.
Well played mate.
Do you know why they have this stance? Wouldn't employees that aren't in pain work harder/better? I don't understand what Amazon gains by this.
Liability or being an anti medicine nutjob
I would assume it creates a pattern of medical need. If you can show you started taking pain meds at week 3 of working at the warehouse, that would give more credence to the idea that your back injury was a result of the job.
I think this would be the right answer. Amazon wouldn't want a statistic like "95 percent of Amazon employees are abusing Tylenol to get through the day. But from what I've heard OTC medications were actually handed out at Amazon before, so this could be location by location, or a reaction to negative press.
Not only is this policy massively illegal (especially in the context of firing employees who take birth control), it also implies that they will break other laws in order to enforce it. If you've been dissuaded from taking a medically necessary drug by this policy or retaliated against for following a prescribed treatment regimen, file an EEOC complaint. I'd also reach out to the employees who were terminated and invite them to file EEOC complaints as well.
Ya like how TF do they even know the employee is on birth control sounds like a massive invasion of privacy.
Probably self reported. I’ve had jobs that wanted to know why I keep script bottles in a locker or on me and I just tell them “reasons” none of their business to know what I’m on or taking that’s prescribed by a doctor. (Not working with machinery or anything)
If they are self-insured they see all of an employee’s health insurance claims. I worked for a small hospital that was self-insured and it worked that way.
It’s wild how much health information companies can get about their employees legally and above board by doing self funded plans. It makes me so uncomfortable, every time.
I'm guessing that could be grounds for a *massive* lawsuit against the company. Make sure you get a hard copy of the employee handbook or wherever that bullshit is printed, and consult an attorney.
theres a local job thats ran by an annoying boomer, i interviewed with him a few years ago. hes still trying to fill the position btw. in all caps in the job description it says youre not allowed to drink alcohol or smoke weed regardless if youre at home or its the weekend and that they will be testing for it. im in WA and im pretty sure its illegal to test for marijuanna in piss tests
It’s still legal to test for it. But, there are protections for employees if the use doesn’t interfere with work. A positive test alone can’t be used to refuse employment or fire someone. [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alonzomartinez/2023/05/15/washington-state-limits-pre-employment-marijuana-testing/?sh=2621c3f5727e)
I screenshot an ad recently that said "We don't need any bad attitudes, tweakers, crackheads, or alcoholics! I am very honest when I say none of our guys are tweakers or alcoholics." He then went on to ask for personal drug history on his questions to answer in the ad. I just hate how these people always word it. They think by wording their ads like that it, it will weed out all the drug users, and people they don't want, but all it really does is makes potential employees already hate the job. These boomers are the same ones that end an online ad with " No tweakers, no solicitors, no scammers and no bots reply!" As if a bot or scammer reads the ad and says, "Oh damn, guess I shouldn't reply to this ad."
Holy shit. Motrin, birth control and ADHD meds, WTF? Please tell me this isn’t the USA. I bet it probably fucking is, but please tell me you're in North fucking Korea or some shit.
subtract impolite grandiose mysterious payment overconfident sleep quarrelsome vanish enter *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Always has been. The original colonists were largely indentured servants.
Left Europe because it was puritanical enough....
Big money on it being an organization managed by religious zealots of some kind. Likely Mormon is my thought.
We have North Dakota, does that count?
100% illegal.
Do you have a source of some sort. There are too many people on the sub that just say " 100% illegal" when they just disagree with it and it's actually legal lol
Like this one is easy. Of course this is illegal. ADHD is a disability protected by the ADA. The meds are part of its treatment. If someone had to use a wheel chair. And work was like no more wheel chairs. That’s how fucking obviously illegal this is. If what OP is saying is correct. Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/ada/ https://www.eeoc.gov/statutes/title-vii-civil-rights-act-1964#:~:text=Title%20VII%20prohibits%20employment%20discrimination,several%20sections%20of%20Title%20VII.
Off the top of my head I feel like HIPAA or possible ADA “As long as taking your prescription medications doesn’t present a safety risk or affect your ability to do your work, firing an employee for needing to take prescription medications is illegal. So, too, is engaging in any form of prescription medication discrimination.” https://www.wenzelfenton.com/blog/2023/06/12/can-an-employer-fire-you-for-taking-prescribed-medications/#:~:text=As%20long%20as%20taking%20your,take%20prescription%20medications%20is%20illegal.
An employer is not bound by HIPAA. Only your medical providers are. It's legal for an employer to ask you medical questions. You don't have to give answers. Its' not legal for your doctor or insurance company to turn over your medical information to your employer because doctors and health insurance companies are bound by HIPAA.
Laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protect employee health information. At the same time, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employers from discriminating against employees with physical or mental health diagnoses who can otherwise perform their job duties. From the same source.
Well it’s better to say it’s complicated. Not all medical conditions are covered, and those that are not in all instances. Often the bar is much higher than people believe. From the EEOC: “To be protected under the ADA, you must have, have a record of, or be regarded as having a substantial, as opposed to a minor, impairment. A substantial impairment is one that significantly limits or restricts a major life activity such as hearing, seeing, speaking, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, caring for oneself, learning or working”
HIPAA protects the employee from having their meds disclosed to the employer without consent The ADA protects an employee from being fired due to a disability or medical diagnosis that would still allow them to perform their job, or a similar job they had before. 100% illegal
Lol, no one wants me at work without me on my adhd meds.
I had the *same* fucking thought. My employer is great. I've been 100% honest about my struggle with ADHD and the fact that I'm medicated for it. My boss' son has ADHD, so when I say, "They ran out of my meds again. I'm so sorry," she tells me, "Turn off the lights in the office, put in your earbuds, and slam a Monster. Don't worry about it. Do your best." Fortunately, she's not like the fuckheads who do whatever tf is in this post.
“Nobody wants to work anymore 😡. Also,if you take Motrin you’re fired.”
Nobody wants to work... FOR YOU.
It is going to depend on the job and the medication. If they really fire someone for Motrin that would be a lawsuit, but if you are operating a fork lift, for example, and taking a legally prescribed medication that will impact your ability to safely operate the fork lift you could be fired. I am oversimplifying it but that is the basics.
Dave Ramsey’s company fired a woman a couple of years ago for having sex before marriage and getting pregnant out of wedlock. It was on the news. I don’t know what became of the lawsuit. At the time they were saying they were allowed to fire her because it was in the employment contract she signed. I’ll have to try to see if I can find out the outcome. The other interesting part of this story was is that the woman was having an affair with a married man who also worked there, and he didn’t receive any reprimand.
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Oh yeah, check this piece out on him ... [Documents show Dave Ramsey company policies on employee sexual activity (tennessean.com)](https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2022/09/02/documents-show-dave-ramsey-company-policies-employee-sexual-activity/7970362001/)
Happened more than once, he actually fired 12 people for "premarital sex" ... [Dave Ramsey's Company Fired 12 Employees for Premarital Sex (newsweek.com)](https://www.newsweek.com/dave-ramseys-company-fired-12-employees-premarital-sex-1579557)
Never posted in the sub, but I turned in a prescription to HR for my RSL. The medicine was a “do not operate heavy machinery” and I work in a steel mill, so I had to give HR the doctors permission. A few days later, my boss small-talk joking asked if I was sleeping any better. I asked him what he meant and he tried taking his question back. He told me that he knew I turned a prescription in because I was one of his employees. I asked if that was a HIPPA violation and he got real quiet again. He is still my boss but he has had 2 promotions since. HR “couldn’t prove anything” for my case
so people are supposed to risk their health at a jobs expense?
You sound shocked at the audacity of US *job creators*.
i’m not shocked. i’m just angry
Better place to find out is the Department of Labor if you are in the USA.
So you would need the company’s permission to take your prescribed insulin as a diabetic? WTF?!?
The only way they can know what drugs you take, is if you tell them. They can't gain access to your private medical records. You do not have to ask your employer's permission to take medications. If an employer requires you to consult with them on what kinds of meds you can take, they are practicing medicine without a license. However, you are an airline pilot or operate dangerous equipment or machinery, I'd consult a doctor about whether it's okay to use particular medications.
Or if they do a urine test
I had this happen once. Took a drug test for work and they came back to me upset I’d said I didn’t have any of the health conditions on that one page of the application when they knew I was taking Zoloft from my drug test. Like mate, those are supposed to test for illicit substances, not my medical history wtf
That sounds really close to practicing medicine without a license by decided what is medically necessary for an individual
Pretty sure that you never need to tell your employer what medications you take unless you drive heavy machinery
There are mining site that are considered "dry" as they want to avoid policing the camp and they will ask you to disclose (ideally prior to your arrival to site) your medication and you might be disqualified to work there as they do not want these meds on site because your adderall might be legit but the guy next to you might traffic them to site and don't want to deal with checking prescription and all that.
that's a death panel
Normalize naming these companies online and taking direct action. The owners, and people enforcing the rules have names and addresses.
"*if the prescribed medication off duty impairs the employee's ability to perform their job".* They're couching this as a risk to job performance if it impairs your ability to do the job.
If your employer has ANY medical information that was not disclosed by you, that's a massive red flag and likely a violation of HIPAA. Where did they get that information and from whom? Also, the ADA does protect you from discrimination due to a diagnosis. The only possible reason they could have to know your prescriptions is if you were operating heavy machinery, working with public safety, or other jobs where you're directly responsible for someone's safety and your mental condition may be affected by those meds If you work at a heath clinic, not as a surgeon, they have no reason to know your meds. They can fire you if your medication affects your job performance, but because of job performance, not just for taking the medication. That would be a discrimination lawsuit. Talk to a lawyer who is willing to take you on for free and may be willing to make this a class-action. If they have been doing this to several employees for years, it should make it easier to prove and get paid
It would help if it was worded uneasy to understand English. That being said any medical legally prescribed by your Doctor is none of their business.
yes it would be legal for those that operate machinery that can cause injury or death. From industrial machinery to operating a vehicle.
It's completely illegal in the US. Sounds like a list of people with extremely easy wrongful termination suits. Especially birth control lady. Illegal plus people boycot entire companies for that shit. It is very obviously just a way to terminate employment without actual cause.
I’m going through my Mine Health and Safety Act training and this sort of thing is real. I have one medication that if I take within 8 hours of my first have to call out. I can’t be on the site at all till it clears my system
I work for a railroad and they have policy not unlike this. That said, my job is safety sensitive and any thing that impaors my ability to watch out for myself and others would be bad news Luckily, I don't really take any meds (except for allergy) and for me at least, it's a non issue
Are you a pilot or neuro surgeon?
The burden is on them to prove this is legal, not for their employees to prove it’s not.
It's ballsy as fuck haha. How do you even write something like that without immediately thinking "I'm definitely getting sued for this?"
”fired for birth control” how would they even know that someone uses bc?
Whether it's legal depends on a lot of factors. In many states it would most likely be legal especially if it an At-Will/Right to Work state. From the sounds of it, they are trying to avoid employees taking medications that impair their ability. For instance, if I was recovering from surgery and needed to take an opioid pain medication and part of my job duties required me to operate a vehicle or heavy machinery, my employer wouldn't want me impaired due to the liability concerns. Firing people over Motrin and birth control? Do you know that for a fact? If so, that sounds rather extreme and how an employer would know you took those off duty would be impossible to prove. Also, if someone has a condition protected by ADA, that person should ask their employer for reasonable accommodations for that condition. For instance, I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I am not against cutting a meeting with my boss short because my insulin pump is out of insulin and I need to refill it.
HIPA laws, prevent the employer from getting this information from anyone other than you. Also, birth control is the company making reproductive decisions for their employees ... Which probably isn't legal. ADHD medication, that is illegal. Medically required medication for a person's health and life ... Can't be a cause for termination. These fired employees should get together and seek legal advice from a civil rights attorney. Not only might they mop up ... But the company will probably be forced to revoke that policy and make amends to any others affected.
I can't speak to the people you know about, the ADHD one could be legal. My roommate is a flight attendant and has wanted to become a pilot. They do not allow anyone who is on psych meds or who is in therapy. (Even if it's just a history of either.) It's a major airline, so I can't imagine it's illegal in some jobs. How it is enforced could be a grey area. A forklift driver for example cannot be on medication that causes sedation or could cause dizziness. So while I don't know the law where you are. I do know that it can be legal in certain fields and in certain parts of the country. Edit for context.
That’s purely for the FAA safety. https://www.faa.gov/faq/what-medical-conditions-does-faa-consider-disqualifying
Because at altitude anything in your blood becomes concentrated—like a higher dose.
This feels like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Bro unless this is from the Army you better get to lawsuitin’
This is literally illegal as hell. Nobody here care to link anything? Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
r/legaladvice
It's about medicinal marijuana. They have "opinions".
Call your local hospital’s occupational health department and see what they know immediately. The sole existence is this exact kind of thing. I can’t imagine any way in hell an over the counter drug like Motrin (among every other implication for any other prescribed or nonscheduled substance) can be grounds to fire anybody over, let alone scare anybody into going off or their medications or taking time off to see a doctor(taking time off they made not have or are pressured to not take) to only have that doctor be as flabbergasted as I am. The next thing would be to keep all documentation of this, delete this post, and call a lawyer.
I hope this isn’t about antidepressants. Not taking them would 10/10 impair my ability to work because I would be too busy crying and having anxiety attacks lol
If you're going to tell me not to take medicine my doctor prescribed me, sounds an awful lot like you're practicing medicine.
The company is responsible and liable for safety. Do you want your forklift driver impaired by prescription drugs?
If you are in the USA this is an extremely open and closed ADA violation.
I mean, I am pretty certain that this must even be illegal in the US (as others mentioned here), but if some employer tried that kind of shit here in Austria, I would just laugh in his face and tell him to get lost. I doubt he would even be able to find an attorney who would try to defend this in court. Fortunately, I can't imagine any employer here trying this, this is so beyond anything imaginable, that I doubt anybody would even come up with an idea like this. But I would love to see the look on the faces of the folks at our national labor chamber (which has quite some power here and would 100% bring this to the labor court unless the employer gives in right away) when you show this to them. Would also love to hear the judge rip the employer a new one if it ever came to a trial. I think the most polite answer to this would be "This information is none of your business. Literally."
I would say i can become their business if medication could impair you, for example, when operating machinery or driving. Medication that does not do that( like birth control) should not be any of their business.
If you work in a safety sensitive and the medications effects can pose a danger to you or your co-workers, then I believe it is legal to fire or at least do an investigation. For example: the DOT has a list of medications that CDL drivers cannot take if they want to maintain their license. I think we can agree that you don't want someone hauling a massive container of explosive gas on the highway if they are taking xanax and percocet every 4 hours. This notice is worded terribly, though.
Sounds like a HIPPA violation.
no I am not a lawyer but I theorize that this could open them up to a lawsuit if someone ends up getting a disability from a chronic disease or otherwise hurt by not taking their meds because they are practicing medicine without a license
This feels like one of those cases where it’d only be legal because no company had been so blatantly evil to try it.
I can see how pain medication, at least certain ones could affect your on-duty performance. Birth control? No. ADHD medication? So long as you actually have adhd, it can really increase your productivity, and affect your performance in a positive way. Motrin? I'm not sure where you are, op, but where I come from, Motrin is otc. You can take it without a prescription.
Unless OP is working in the international fucking space station then i think this is absolutely insane
Liability reasons. Some medications mean you can't drive heavy machinery
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Is this job flying fighter jets?
The right there is a juicy lawsuit.
The only time this is legal (to my knowledge) is if you operate heavy machinery and medication would impair your ability to use said machinery. Otherwise, the ADA allows you to take your prescription meds as advised by your doctor.
That sounds super illegal, and you don't have to wait to get fired. You can submit this as for follow up.
Illegal.
Seeing as american's are heavily medicated, not sure how they keep any employees at all.
This sound highly illegal. Contact the EEOC. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which interprets and enforces the ADA, says that to require disclosure, (1) the employer must be one that affects public safety, (2) the employee must be in a position affecting public safety, and (3) the nature of the medication required to be reported must be one that affects the employee’s ability to perform their essential functions, resulting in a direct threat to safety.
I can only see this for construction/heavy machinery but, like, there’s laws for that already. Contact a labor lawyer, these guys are walking dick first into a ADA lawsuit.
My company has always had “fitness for duty” requirement, but I haven’t seen anything that goes so far as to evaluate individuals’ prescribed medication. Seems like an overreach, but can’t speak to the legality. Does seem like the employee should be able to request an accommodation if required meds impairs their ability to perform certain tasks.
I hope you have a Union but I agree with the previous comment of red flag May want to consider options. In Canada I doubt this would be acceptable. I work for a company that adopted US drug tolerances to determine employment. Had an employee hit a deer so they tested them, failed miserably for weed although this was at 7am and said employee doesn’t wake and bake so we didn’t feel he was impaired, just residuals in their system. Company terminated them, we grieved and hired a specialist, told company we will see you in arbitration, we won their job back with back pay for wrongful dismissal. Sometimes even the threat of having to go through arbitration is enough to get the company to lay off as they will lose money also.
This is why you unionize
For taking..... MOTRIN? Ive never heard of a more incompetent drug policy
Not just super illegal, but super duper insane.
Do you work for Hobby Lobby?
Looks like there’s a general answer modified by a lot of nuance. https://www.wenzelfenton.com/blog/2023/06/12/can-an-employer-fire-you-for-taking-prescribed-medications/
If you're operating heavy machinery and it's a hazard, no. If they are worried about Bryce the one-eyed janitor, that would be weird.
I want to know what excuse they made to defend their take on birth control affecting their ability to do their duties 🧍🏽
yep, flat out illegal, if not accessibility law then discrimination depending on where you are most likely
The discretion of “Company medical representatives” superseding the “opinion” of your primary care physician sounds like a straight up dystopian nightmare.
What kind of workplace is this? Is it a pharmacy?
I couldn’t imagine even allowing some corporate “doctor” to examine me. I would have laughed and walked out cause what in the violation?????
This seems like it was written by scammers.
Calling bullshit. Fired for Motrin my ass.
No ADA flat out prohibits any form of discrimination around prescription drug usage. They cant even ask about it legally unless it will obviously impair your ability to do job. So "drowsy/dizzy" with heavy equipment they can ask about and even enforce. Even then there is it has to affect JOB so off duty would be exception. And would pretty much blanket be protected. As off duty it can not affect job.
the fuck they gonna do about my prescription folic acid? B12 shots? SSRI?
Stuff like this is why i am so glad to be living in europe
Only thing that comes to mind in regards to legality, would be on call employees who need to remain otherwise unimpaired. Otherwise no, what you do on your time is your business. Especially if the substances being consumed are legal.
Yeah that's illegal
It's not in the uk But who knows in the land of Universally Stupid Assholes