The EEOC was established to provide guidelines in order to help employers make fair, informed hiring decisions. They are responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee based on certain characteristics—such as those outlined in Title VII.

Title VII was part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is a federal law that protects employees against discrimination based on certain specified characteristics, such as: race, color, national origin, sex, and religion.

Most employers with at least 15 employees are covered by EEOC laws (20 employees in age discrimination cases). Most labor unions and employment agencies are also covered.

These laws apply to all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits.

Under the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers are also banned from excluding potential hires based purely on past arrests or criminal records (unless directed otherwise by state or federal regulations) if the offense is not relevant to an applicants ability to perform their job.

Employers should also remember to pay heed to various states “ban the box” regulations which can forbid them from asking about criminal records until after serious hiring consideration.

You can find more information about EEOC and Title VII here.

The post EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION & TITLE VII appeared first on Blueline.

1. Register your company at clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov
   1. If you have a USDOT number, the clearinghouse will pull your company information from other relevant systems. Make sure to double check the accuracy of the information pulled.
   2. Assign others in your company to be assistants to help you manage the information provided through the clearinghouse.
2. Assign Blueline Services as your C/TPA (Consortium/Third Party Administrator).
3. Pre-purchase enough queries to cover your current DOT regulated employees.
   1. Queries never expire and additional can be purchased as needed.
4. Get your drivers to register at clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov right away!
   1. A driver must register and give consent for his/her information to be accessible.  If they want to maintain a CDL, they HAVE to register on the clearinghouse site.  
   2. Drivers can monitor their information and dispute reported information directly on the site.

 
All employers with FMCSA regulated employees must register and use the clearinghouse. If drivers do not register, the consent will be sent by regular mail to the address on their CDL. This will delay employment and potential opportunities for drivers, so is in their best interest to register online.  Employers must query all new drivers before hire and all current drivers must be queried annually. The Clearinghouse is not yet integrated with other screening vendors/platforms, which means the queries need to be performed directly on the clearinghouse site. For the first three years (DOT requires a 3 year employment verification), Blueline can still provide the required employment verifications while the database catches up (year by year) to the requirement.  
 
We know change can cause heartburn, but this update is one that will be good for employers and overall industry safety. We encourage you to check out the excellent resources on the FAQ and Learning Center pages of the clearinghouse website https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/ . 
 
Thank you for your continued business, please reach out to us with any questions or implementation issues.  
 
Blueline Drug Testing Department
801-575-8378
mail@blueline-services.com 

The post Clearinghouse Information appeared first on Blueline.

All of the information they shared has been sourced from and recognized by the medical and/or scientific communities and should merit some serious consideration. We’ve shared their research and information below for your benefit.

“Marijuana is harmless.”

-Marijuana use is associated with increased risks of: mental illness (Burns, 2013), heart disease (Montecucco, 2012), cancer (Marks, 2013), lung disease (Mehra, 2006) and stroke (Wolff, 2013); compared to tobacco, marijuana smoke contains three to five times more carcinogens (Tomar PhD & al., 2009).
-The structural brain change caused by marijuana use by adolescents and young adults – including only casual use – is permanent. IQ points are lost – and cannot be recovered with age (Meier M., 2012).
-Exposure to so-called “edibles” has led to a significant increase in the poisoning of young children. (Wang, 2014).
-The side effects from marijuana have led to far more emergency room visits than all other substances combined (SAMHSA, 2013).

“Marijuana is medicine.”

-The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, American Glaucoma Society, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Cancer Society, National Eye Institute, National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and, the Federal Food and Drug Administration – these are only some of the prominent national health organizations that have rejected crude marijuana for medicinal use.
-State regulatory oversight of marijuana for medical use in Colorado has been highly touted as a model of success. Regardless, while the state’s website shows registrant demographics at 3% for cancer, and 1% for AIDS, those who “complain of pain” equal a whopping 94% (CDPHE, 2014). And these registrants are not the sick and elderly; rather, the average cardholder is a 41-year-old male – in the workforce. In California, the average user of marijuana for medicinal use is a 32-year-old male with a history of alcohol and substance abuse – and no history of life-threatening illnesses (O’Connell, 2007).

“The marijuana ‘high’ only lasts for a few hours.”

-Repeated studies have shown that after marijuana use, impairment lasts a minimum of 24 hours. One particular study included flight simulators – to test airline pilots at various intervals after they smoked “a joint.” While impairment was proven 24 hours after usage, none of the pilots reported any awareness of their own impairment (Yesavage, Leirer, Denari, & Hoillister, 1985). And this study was conducted prior to the significant THC increases seen in today’s marijuana products – where users often report ill effects for days afterward.

“Presence-in-system testing is unreliable because it does not measure impairment.”

–The amount of THC – the psychoactive component in marijuana – is going to vary across the wide variety of marijuana products now available as well as in the rate that it is metabolized by different individuals. While these variants currently make it difficult to produce a standardized method by which individual impairment can be determined with certainty, they should not be construed into some kind of base rate fallacy. The reality is that drug testing is meant to serve as one component of an employer’s comprehensive drug-free workplace policy – that includes education about the consequences of failing a drug test.
-While drug screening and confirmatory cut-off levels have been established that are meant to protect a safe and drug-free workplace from substances of abuse, studies clearly show that maintaining as little as 2-5 ng/mL of marijuana in one’s system may cause substantial impairment issues (Hartman & Huestis, Cannabis Effects on Driving Skills, 2012).
-Presence-in-system testing is the gold standard upheld in repeated court decisions – protecting an employer’s right to provide a safe and drug-free workplace program.

“Marijuana is not addictive.”

-It’s been generally recognized that marijuana is psychologically addictive. Today’s strains of THC are stronger – and now produce physiological dependence and withdrawal that requires substance abuse treatment (Copeland, 2009). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana accounted for 4.5 of the 7.1 million Americans dependent on or abusing illicit drugs in 2010 (SAMHSA, 2010).
-Statistically, one in six adolescent users will become dependent on marijuana – and one in 10 adult marijuana users will become dependent to the point of requiring treatment (Giedd, 2004).
-When chronic marijuana users attempt abrupt discontinuation, the signs of withdrawal syndrome – restlessness, irritability, mild agitation, hyperactivity, insomnia, nausea, cramping, decreased appetite, sweating and increased dreaming – are common (NHTSA, 2014).

“Marijuana can be regulated like alcohol.”

-One would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would hail alcohol regulation as a public health success. For every $1 of tax revenue received in the U.S. from alcohol sales, $10 more are spent on the social costs – amounting to an annual deficit of $185 billion/year (NIDA, 2000). Further, the physical properties, effects on the body, absorption rates, etc. are not in any way the same between marijuana and alcohol – and no standardized techniques for testing exist for marijuana. Claims that marijuana can be regulated like alcohol – based on assumptions of similarity – are extremely misguided.

“Marijuana is not a gateway drug.”

-A 25-year longitudinal study found the frequency of marijuana use to be significant with other illicit drugs of abuse and dependence – particularly with adolescent onset use (Fergusson, Horwood, & Boden, 2006).
-Two separate studies of twins compared whether or not early cannabis use showed subsequent abuse or dependence of other illicit drugs. The findings showed two to five times greater risk than that of a twin who did not use marijuana (Lynskey PhD & al., 2003) (Agrawal, Neale, Prescott, & Kendler, 2004).

“Marijuana is safer than cigarettes or alcohol.”

-With the extremely-high THC now found in new productions of edibles, waxes, and hash oil vaporizers, it may well take another generation before how truly harmful the effects of marijuana use can be determined. The permanent damage to brain function and long-term mental health detriments are not only indisputable but incomparable to cigarettes and alcohol across the board. Marijuana creates its own brand of problems. Blanket statements declaring marijuana as “safer” are ignoring the risks identified by scientific data. Addiction, psychosis, and cognitive function loss are never “safer” (Gitlow PhD, 2014).
-Repeated studies have shown that after marijuana use, impairment lasts a minimum of 24 hours. One particular study included flight simulators – to test airline pilots at various intervals after they smoked “a joint.” While impairment was proven 24 hours after usage, none of the pilots reported any awareness of their own impairment (Yesavage, Leirer, Denari, & Hoillister, 1985). And this study was conducted prior to the significant THC increases seen in today’s marijuana products – where users often report ill effects for days afterward.

“There are no long-term effects from marijuana use.”

-A study of 1000 candidates followed from birth to age 38 showed lasting cognitive decline among marijuana users – that did not change with adult abstinence (Meier M., 2012).
-Marijuana use causes a 17% increased risk for depression onset among all users; risk increases to 62% for heavy (or weekly) users (Lev-Ran, 2014).
-Military personnel who use cannabis 10 or more times by 18 years of age are two to three times more likely to be later diagnosed with schizophrenia than those who have not (Zammit, 2002).
-A 40% increased risk of psychotic symptoms/disorders occurs in those who use marijuana as compared to those who do not (Moore, 2007). This finding has been confirmed by over a dozen studies.

“It is safer to drive with marijuana in your system.”

-Studies consistently show that, on average, marijuana-impaired driving results in a two-fold increase in the risk of a crash (MuChen, 2012).
-Impaired cognitive function means lowered attention to surroundings and tasks, reduced speed of information processing, and slower response times –which can lead to weaving and other risky consequences (Hartman & Huestis, 2013). In Colorado, the number of drivers in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana nearly doubled from 2009 – 2011 (Couch, 2014).

The post Busting Common Marijuana Myths appeared first on Blueline.

Last month, a federal court in Connecticut ruled that refusing to hire a medical marijuana user after they tested positive during a pre-employment drug screening is a violation of the state’s medical marijuana law.

This is the first ruling of its kind in a federal case, following other similar recent rulings in state courts (Massachusetts and Rhode Island) that have been in favor of protecting marijuana users. Previous rulings, such as those in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, have sided against medical cannabis users in employment cases.

In this latest case, Noffsinger v. SSC NIANTIC OPERATING COMPANY, LLC, Katelin Noffsinger had been offered and accepted a job as a recreation therapy director at a nursing home, contingent on her passing a drug test. After the drug test came back positive for THC, the nursing home rescinded the job offer, worried that hiring her would cause them to lose their funding as a federal contractor.

The nursing home was following federal law that still states marijuana use is illegal, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes. However, the Connecticut Palliative Use of Marijuana Act (PUMA) gives a private right of action to aggrieved medical marijuana patients in Connecticut.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer said that the federal Drug Free Workplace Act does not prohibit federal contractors from employing people who use medical marijuana outside the workplace in accordance with state law.

This case is a good reminder for employers to not only refer to federal laws regarding marijuana, but to also look at state law prior to making any employment decisions or drafting employment policies. Laws concerning marijuana have been changing consistently over the past few years so it’s more important than ever to stay up-to-date with your state’s specific laws.

The post New Federal Court Ruling On Medical Marijuana Use Favors Employees appeared first on Blueline.

If certain charges have been previously waived or dismissed it is prohibited by the FCRA for those charges that are no longer applicable to be included in a background check report. By not doing this, a fully-qualified applicant could potentially be passed over.

Federal law also says that if a background check includes information that negatively impacts eligibility for employment, the background checking company must provide a full copy to the consumer.

A large background checking company, recently had to settle a class action lawsuit for violating these terms. Plaintiffs who filed the claim said that this large and careless company “routinely and systematically” violated federal law by failing to provide proper service and comply with federal regulations.

Make sure you fully vet your background check provider. A comprehensive and legal background check is never at bargain basement prices, and it is never without professional review and support. Check us out at the link above, we have you covered.

The post Don’t let your rights be violated appeared first on Blueline.