New employer requires I bring my antidepressant Rx and get "cleared" from my MD

[ORRN21]

So I just got hired at a big public hospital system and the pre employment paperwork states I have to bring any anti-depressant medication bottles to my pre-employment appointment. When I get there they make copies of my medication Wellbutrin and Celexa Rx and then require me to get a release from my doctor stating Im cleared to work. What?! Invasion of privacy and humiliating!! Can they do this??? Well I guess they can since they just did!

Has anyone else heard of this?

[nurseswholovenursing]

Jesus should be capitalized.

[cdsavannah59, CNA]

But antidepressants don't show up on a urine tox screen.

Yep not in urine sample, but Im sure some employers might use the method of blood work to look specifically for certain medications such as Wellbutrin etc. So it's best to be honest.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Ask lawyers for legal opinions on employers' rights and your rights about this. As nurses, we have opinions, but we don't generally know the laws.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

My first employer made us sign a form indicating which meds we took, the form included a space for anti depressants:

I was not happy.

I asked the HR lady, who provided the form, whether I needed to fill out the anti depressant portion. She said yes, in an incredulous manner.

I did disclose my Zoloft prescription.

When I looked over the u-tox screen, ssris were not included.

I felt the disclosure was in humane and unfair.

I wish this employer had an outside agency to conduct the utox screens. I hate having to disclose my personal health history to the on site, mean, hr lady. Grrr!

At my next job, I think I had to disclose to the MD for my new hire physical. He was cool with it. Loved that MD!!

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

I find this thread so ironic because the vast majority of nurses I know are on an antidepressant and / or and anxiolytics. And they drink.

[SarahMaria, MSN, RN]

The laws must vary from state to state. We are not allowed, under HIPPA, to ever ask what medication an employee takes. It is between you and the place yor employer has contracted with to screen your drug test. We only test for 5 drugs, which is the most common urine test done, because I'm sure it is cheaper. But I assume that other drugs could cause false positives, as others have stated here happens. It's probably been about 3 years ago, that new employees did have to give us a list of whatever meds they were taking. But no more. It is considered a HIPPA violation to ask. You can not (should not) be discriminated against because of depression, which is actively being treated. We don't even ask on our medical history anymore.

HIPAA is a federal law and cannot vary state to state.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Look again. I did from the get go

Jesus should be capitalized.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Didn't we say pretty much the same thing?

No. Read my last post

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Yep not in urine sample, but Im sure some employers might use the method of blood work to look specifically for certain medications such as Wellbutrin etc. So it's best to be honest.

Dude, I am in my state's monitoring program for nurses and even they aren't that anal retentive. No company is going to routinely drop the sort of money those sorts of tests on every potential employee.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

HIPAA is a federal law and cannot vary state to state.

But certain aspects can be interpreted differently by different institutions. At least that is what my institution's last HIPAA module stated.

[MunoRN, RN]

Dude, I am in my state's monitoring program for nurses and even they aren't that anal retentive. No company is going to routinely drop the sort of money those sorts of tests on every potential employee.

At every hospital I've worked at you get tested for both illegal drugs, and opiates/benzos, legally prescribed or not. This isn't for "every potential employee", just for safety-sensitive positions. There was also a pretty good chance you'd get tested for opiates when returning to work following medical leave. Adding a medical drug screen onto the drugs of abuse panel is actually relatively cheap.

[MunoRN, RN]

I'm not sure how people think HIPAA comes into play in this situation, anyone pursuing a safety-sensitive position can be asked about any drug that is FDA-required to list impairment as a side effect (avoid driving, using heavy machinery, etc) and they can legally confirm your answers with drug testing. Whether or not they can made aware of the specific medication an employee test positive for is likely to be further defined by precedent, particularly after the Dura automotive and similar cases, but there's little controversy about whether or not they can supply the MRO with a list of prohibited medications (valid prescription or not) and the MRO then reports the patient was positive for at least one of the medications.