Should Companies Have to Rat Out Potential Employees Who Fail a Drug Test?

According to a story on Pal-Item.com, the Georgia Department of Labor has found a unique way to avoid paying unemployment benefits to people who take drugs. Instead of requiring that they take a drug test in order to qualify, officials are asking businesses and the public to let them know when a potential employee fails a test.

Many employers require prospective employees to take a drug test. If they fail, rendering themselves unavailable for work, the state can then effectively stop paying them unemployment benefits. In order to qualify for unemployment benefits, recipients must be actively seeking work and make themselves available for any job. Failing a drug test, or refusing to take one, could be seen as a violation of the terms.

A study by the Society for Human Resource Management reportedly showed last year that about 57 percent of U.S. employees drug test prospective  candidates. This new procedure by the labor department saves the cash strapped state the expense of paying for drug tests and, at the same time, saves having to pay out unemployment benefits to people who abuse drugs.

So what do you think? Should these companies be required to rat out people who fail a test when applying for a job? And what do you think of the state's plan? Is it ingenious or a backdoor way to avoid having to go to the legislature to implement drug testing?