From Bridge Magazine, published on July 20, 2017:
A Macomb County factory owner sees a chance to increase production at his metal-stamping plant. He puts out a call for job applicants and dozens respond.
About half are rejected. Why? They cannot pass a basic pre-employment drug test.
A major manufacturing facility in Detroit furloughs workers during a downturn. When 100 of the workers are called back several months later, every one of them fails the company’s drug screening, mostly for marijuana.
In Traverse City, an addiction treatment center surveys 30 companies in across the region and finds only 1-in-4 conduct drug tests. The reason: They fear the results would require them to reject or fire the workers they desperately need.
“More often than not, we are finding that employers are not testing because of that problem,” said Chris Hindbaugh, executive director of Addiction Treatment Services. “They’d rather not know. And that’s dangerous.”
Across Michigan, employers say they can’t fill job openings because too many people can’t pass a drug test. Shortages are particularly acute in manufacturing, construction, warehousing or shipping companies, which routinely impose pre-employment drug screening for workers who operate heavy machinery or heavy-haul trucks.
Read the rest of the story at the Crain’s Detroit Business website HERE.