COLUMBIA − The city of Columbia announced a major change to pre-employment drug testing at the city council meeting Monday.
Starting Oct. 1, anyone seeking employment with the city will no longer be penalized for a positive marijuana drug test during the pre-employment stage.
This will be in effect for all city jobs expect for those that require a commercial driver’s license. This includes positions such as trash truck drivers and bus drivers.
Andrew Hutchinson, LiUNA Local 955 union representative, explained the faults of the testing policy.
“This isn’t about them using on the job, but if they tested positive for previous past use, current city policy is after two positive tests, is to get rid of them,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the past drug policy affected both vacant jobs and taxpayers.
“…Bringing in outside contractors that cost a severe premium, which in turn is using up more of our tax dollars to get things done, which then in turn means there’s less city services,” Hutchinson said.
Prior to this change, testing positive for marijuana during the pre-employment stage would lead to a five-year ban from applying to any city position.
“We’ve watched too many employees with otherwise stellar work records that test positive twice for marijuana move to a temp agency,” Hutchinson said.
The ban will be lifted on Oct. 1. for people who applied to the city after the legalization recreational marijuana went into effect on Dec. 8, 2022.
Be the first to comment