When Employers Ignore Addiction in the Workplace

Employers who suspect someone of using drugs on the job may be reluctant to intervene because they fear they’ll be charged with discrimination. On Jason’s first day of work at an old-fashioned Wall Street law firm, he was so high on cocaine and heroin that his mother warned him, “You can’t go in there. You don’t look well.” But as Jason, now nearly ten years sober and with the easy confidence of a successful lawyer, explains, “I was determined to show up, though I should have never been anywhere near an office, let alone the orientation for summer associates. But the way it works, when you get a summer associate gig, you’re bound to get an offer at the end of it and then you start with that firm after you take the Bar. So I went anyway.” Despite the fact that Jason was asking inappropriate questions about sexual harassment to the HR person on his first day, he still managed to work the whole summer at the firm. “I was doing coke and a lot of pills, I was snorting heroin, and basically getting paid $3,000 a week to do nothing. They never said anything about my behavior; they just didn’t give me any work to do. It was the weirdest experience.” But Jason isn’t alone. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 76 percent of people with drug or alcohol problems are employed, and about 19.2 million U.S. workers (15%) reported using or being impaired by alcohol at work at least once in the past year. Despite these statistics, addicti...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Addiction Alcoholism Disorders Industrial and Workplace Publishers Recovery Substance Abuse The Fix employees employers Kristen McGuiness liability Source Type: blogs