Another reader of this list has suggested that an employer
may be interested in the results of drug tests as a way of
discouraging behavior that is not conducive to good work
(noat exactly what he said, perhaps, and he avoided condoning
this interest).  It seems to me that any such employer should
restrict itself to objective evaluation of job performance
and strictly avoid concerning itself with private practices
of its employees that might affect their performance.  If they
are doing a satisfactory job, the employer has no complaint.
There are innumerable aspects of a persons private life that
might affect job performance (Do we get enough sleep?  Is our
emotional life in turmoil?) and few of us would be willing to
allow our employers to start inquiring into such matters and
setting up a regimen for us to follow at home.  The question is
larger than the drug issue--it comes down to our right (if such
it is) to insist that good performance is good performance, and
that is all our employer should be able to ask.  It may not be
this simple if we are (say) commercial pilots, of course.
 
Craig Sanders
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