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Do I have to inform my employer about prescription medication I am taking.

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thefatalchemist

Junior Member
I live in Florida. And I recently filed workmans comp and they are drug testing me. I get prescribed controlled substances and I never told them about it because it doesn't affect my ability to work. My question is am I required to tell my employer I take a controlled substance?
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I live in Florida. And I recently filed workmans comp and they are drug testing me. I get prescribed controlled substances and I never told them about it because it doesn't affect my ability to work. My question is am I required to tell my employer I take a controlled substance?
What substance?
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
If you are asking whether the law specifically states that you must tell your employer about any controlled substances, no, it does not. Not unless you need an accommodation.

If you are asking whether your employer can take any adverse action against you because you did not tell them, that can be a different story, depending on all the facts.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
Let's see here:

Tramadol

Nervous system side effects occur frequently. Dizziness, headache, and somnolence have been reported in more than 25% of treated patients

Baclofen

Nervous system side effects have been common. They have included transient drowsiness and sedation in as many as 63% of treated patients. Dizziness, weakness, and fatigue have been reported commonly.

Adderall

Nervous system side effects have included insomnia (27%), agitation (8%), anxiety (8%), dizziness (7%), depression, seizures, stroke, overstimulation, restlessness, euphoria, dyskinesia, dysphoria, tremor, headache, exacerbation of motor and phonic tics, and Tourette's syndrome.
--

So is it your opinion or your doctor's opinion that taking these 3 drugs together does not affect your work?
 

CSO286

Senior Member
Let's see here:

Tramadol

Nervous system side effects occur frequently. Dizziness, headache, and somnolence have been reported in more than 25% of treated patients

Baclofen

Nervous system side effects have been common. They have included transient drowsiness and sedation in as many as 63% of treated patients. Dizziness, weakness, and fatigue have been reported commonly.

Adderall

Nervous system side effects have included insomnia (27%), agitation (8%), anxiety (8%), dizziness (7%), depression, seizures, stroke, overstimulation, restlessness, euphoria, dyskinesia, dysphoria, tremor, headache, exacerbation of motor and phonic tics, and Tourette's syndrome.
--

So is it your opinion or your doctor's opinion that taking these 3 drugs together does not affect your work?
And what kind of work do you do???
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
I live in Florida. And I recently filed workmans comp and they are drug testing me. I get prescribed controlled substances and I never told them about it because it doesn't affect my ability to work. My question is am I required to tell my employer I take a controlled substance?
Let's see here:

Tramadol

Nervous system side effects occur frequently. Dizziness, headache, and somnolence have been reported in more than 25% of treated patients

Baclofen

Nervous system side effects have been common. They have included transient drowsiness and sedation in as many as 63% of treated patients. Dizziness, weakness, and fatigue have been reported commonly.

Adderall

Nervous system side effects have included insomnia (27%), agitation (8%), anxiety (8%), dizziness (7%), depression, seizures, stroke, overstimulation, restlessness, euphoria, dyskinesia, dysphoria, tremor, headache, exacerbation of motor and phonic tics, and Tourette's syndrome.
--

So is it your opinion or your doctor's opinion that taking these 3 drugs together does not affect your work?
You're being drug-tested for a reason. Either your work is suffering, or the employer is doing this as a matter of routine employment testing. Either way, the medications you are taking is going to show up in the tests.

Do you need to disclose? Legally speaking, no. However, given that there is a reason for the testing, if you fail to disclose that these medications have been prescribed for you, the employer is going to think that there is something going on. Drug testing is usually used to discover drug abuse in the workplace, and if you have a legitimate need for the medication, then you'll need to show that or face disciplinary action and possibly termination from your job for an unauthorized use of the drugs.

It's really up to you. Either you disclose, and take away the employer's ability to call you a drug addict, or you don't, and the employer thinks you have something to hide.

Is it possible that the employer will think that you can't perform your job while taking these specific medications?
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
No, you don't have to tell your employer anything. The drug testing company will contact you when your samples come back positive (probably the only thing that will show up is the Adderall). You provide them with your doctor's information so they can confirm it's been legally prescribed, and they report the test back to your employer as NEGATIVE. Tramadol and baclofen are not narcotics so they shouldn't even come up.
 

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