Quarterly drug testing of state employees in Florida

[bettymae1121]

Correct me if I'm wrong, I could be getting the FL gov mixed up with someone else, but isn't he the one that was CEO of a company that was finned huge $$$ for scamming Medicare? And all of that was known and reported on before he was elected FL gov?

I'm from IL, so believe me I know ALL about buyers remorse when it comes to goveners but when you have something like that known about someone running for office and elect him anyway, you shouldn't be too surprised when things like this crop up after he's elected.

 

[lillygator]

that is the one...he pled the 5th 75 times.

 

[lillygator]

now he wants a yearlong study to see if we can do away with public hospitals.

 

[livie1205]

now he wants a yearlong study to see if we can do away with public hospitals.

The fl school board chairman just quit in protest of Scott....he says soon scott will have all his people in all the importent jobs in Florida.I think its funny what he is doing since he owns private hospitals and clinics...hummmmm sounds fishy huh? They also said today scott, his people,judges ect ect will NOT have to take the tests yet they all work for the state since the new website he just put up last week that lets you put in any state workers name and see what their rank and pay is.I know it is all public record anyway BUT you use to have to go down and ask for it now you can just look online...which is bad for people that hide from stalkers and abuse victims!

 

[Sadfeet]

The fl school board chairman just quit in protest of Scott....he says soon scott will have all his people in all the importent jobs in Florida.I think its funny what he is doing since he owns private hospitals and clinics...hummmmm sounds fishy huh? They also said today scott, his people,judges ect ect will NOT have to take the tests yet they all work for the state since the new website he just put up last week that lets you put in any state workers name and see what their rank and pay is.I know it is all public record anyway BUT you use to have to go down and ask for it now you can just look online...which is bad for people that hide from stalkers and abuse victims!

ALL government workers should be tested. That stinks!

As for the public hospitals they like all government programs are money pits. Poorly and fraudulently run. I wouldn't go to one unless I was minutes from
death. I think everything possible should be made private. Police and those who deal with personal info would need to be public employees but why should bus drivers, lunch ladies or grounds keepers be living off the public's lifeblood?

 

[livie1205]

ALL government workers should be tested. That stinks!

As for the public hospitals they like all government programs are money pits. Poorly and fraudulently run. I wouldn't go to one unless I was minutes from
death. I think everything possible should be made private. Police and those who deal with personal info would need to be public employees but why should bus drivers, lunch ladies or grounds keepers be living off the public's lifeblood?

right! They have people that answer phones on "high risk" which I agree should be changed BUT those that really are high risk should get the perks they work for.My dh is LE and we do not mind putting in some for his pension but as far as making them work into their later years NO...my dh has had 3 work related injuries and his young age I cant even think of him doing that job at age 65,its not good for him and not good for the public.He already gets drug tested but what scott wants to do will hurt the budget even more.

 

[FireDancer]

I am all for random drug tests of employees, government or otherwise, but think testing each employee quarterly is too much. Do a test on everyone to weed out the bad apples who fail and keep up unannounced random drug tests but I see no need to test every employee every quarter.

 

[livie1205]

I am all for random drug tests of employees, government or otherwise, but think testing each employee quarterly is too much. Do a test on everyone to weed out the bad apples who fail and keep up unannounced random drug tests but I see no need to test every employee every quarter.

agree

 

[Carly_Roach]

I am all for random drug tests of employees, government or otherwise, but think testing each employee quarterly is too much. Do a test on everyone to weed out the bad apples who fail and keep up unannounced random drug tests but I see no need to test every employee every quarter.

It's called the slippery slope. Once you accept it for one class of people its easier to get it mandated for all classes of people. Example:

Against in this case.

However I fully support random drug tests for anyone receiving welfare.

Sorry, but once a consensus of voters have agreed on drug-testing for any group of citizens, it's just a matter of paperwork to implement the whole drug-testing scheme to every citizen.

I see a day in the near future when drug testing will be required of every parent and school child. It's already required of mothers giving birth. After all, if you're taking drugs then you're subjecting innocent children to an impaired parent and if your kids are taking drugs then they're a safety risk to all the other children in school. Soon drug-testing will be a requirement to ride the subway, airplane or any other public transport. Eventually drug-testing will be a requirement of being a citizen of America.

All because we decided it was OK to infringe upon the privacy rights of one class of citizen as long as it didn't infringe upon our own right to privacy. You should probably stop thanking all those soldiers now for their sacrifice for our freedoms. It looks so hypocritical. We are intent upon giving our rights away so easily and with so little reason that any sacrifice for our "freedom" will have been made in vain.

 

[FireDancer]

It's called the slippery slope. Once you accept it for one class of people its easier to get it mandated for all classes of people.

It isn't about a class of people but about a company testing their employees which is already done by many out there. If company x can test employees I see no reason why the state of Florida as the employer can't test their employees even though I don't agree with the frequency.

There is a difference between any government implementing random drug testing of random citizens and testing their own employees. One is being done in the role of government and the other is being done in the role of employer.

 

[livie1205]

They just came out with new numbers...14 million a year to do what he wants to do!While I dont mind testing this is CRAZY when at the same time he wants to mess with dh pension because it is so called in trouble!!

 

[Art 1]

They just came out with new numbers...14 million a year to do what he wants to do!While I dont mind testing this is CRAZY when at the same time he wants to mess with dh pension because it is so called in trouble!!

But hey, it will create jobs.

 

[Feralpeg]

But hey, it will create jobs.

Perhaps, all the out of work teachers in Florida can volunteer to help with the testing!

 

[Carly_Roach]

It isn't about a class of people but about a company testing their employees which is already done by many out there. If company x can test employees I see no reason why the state of Florida as the employer can't test their employees even though I don't agree with the frequency.

There is a difference between any government implementing random drug testing of random citizens and testing their own employees. One is being done in the role of government and the other is being done in the role of employer.

Thank you for proving my point. You consider it normal to infringe upon people's privacy because so many are already doing it and you've known no different way of life. Older people are more than aware of when mandatory drug testing was something that simply wasn't done at all for any reason. It's only become commonplace in the last 30 years or so.

Slippery slope.

 

[dejr_8]

I'm a bit puzzled by the comments that welfare recipients should be tested, but not state employees. They are both paid with tax dollars. You can try to rationalize it, but a doper is a doper.

George for me the difference is:

The state employee is still being a productive member of society (i.e. paying into the system) who may doing something illegal

The welfare recipient is not a productive member of society (i.e. living off of the system) and MAY not be productive because of drug abuse. If you are asking for a handout you better be doing everything that you can be doing to stop receiving a handout. If you are doing drugs, then you aren't. Even worse, you are taking my hard earned dollars that I can no longer spend on my family and buying drugs with them.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

Everyone I know who voted for him is still cautiously optimistic. Government unions and pensions are not sustainable. There should be hazard pay for police and firefighters but it should be paid at the time either higher wages or contributions to 401k type plans. The taxpayers should not have to subsidize the rest of someones life just because they chose to work for the government. I don't think 65 year old cops should be working a beat but I also don't think taxpayers should pay a pension for someone to retire at 45 and then live till 85.

I'm sorry. You are going to lose this battle one way or another. The system can't continue as it is. You also have to understand that you surround yourself with people who are sympathetic to your cause. Just because everyone you know supports you doesn't mean that most taxpayers do. It means other firefighters and there families and friends do. Of course they do! LOL! Btw I am NOT a republican.

I totally agree with you! We as a country cannot continue to go down this dead end road. We need to stop the bleeding and we need to stop it now. A lot of LEO and state workers also keep sick time and vacation time and cash out the last three years. This brings their salary up and the pension is based on this scheme.

Also, I think they want a leo to go to a desk job around the age 45, not out in the field chasing criminals.

 

[Rora]

That's ridiculous. As a taxpayer, I'd be majorly ticked off. If somebody has performance issues, deal with the individual.

Exactly.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

agreed that something needs to be done. In a down/struggling economy, everyone needs to make some sacrifices to make sure we get through it. While our elected officials are mulling over how much to cut from the pensions of teachers/police/etc, perhaps they should also look at their own pensions and begin there, since they seem to have a nice, super-cushy one for themselves.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/20/commentary/wastler/wastler/index.htm

ALL our elected officials should do the same thing with their pensions.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

How is it a pain to pee in a cup? Why do you have to be "prepared"? If any state employees want to leave I'm sure they won't have a hard time filling the position! LOL.

It was a pain (stressful) because maybe the employee had to worry about when they did drugs. I have no idea why this would be painful. My DH does random drug testing and doesn't find it painful or time consuming at all.

 

[jodifla]

Guess you people never heard of false positives!

It's ridiculous and stupid and SHOULD be unconstitutional. Like Carly said, it's a slippery slope.

We are giving notice that we will soon accept ALL of us being drug tested at ANY time. Because we ALL get government subsidies of once kind or another.