Category: Drug Screening

How Drug Test Donors Cheat on Their Drug Tests

Post author By Gordon Basichis
Post date December 16, 2015
No Comments on How Drug Test Donors Cheat on Their Drug Tests

So if you think all employment candidates who come back with clean results on their drug tests, think again. At Corra Group where we are partnered with Quest Diagnostics, we found this bit of information useful to any employers who are conducting drug screening as part of their employment screening policy. The drug test can be a helpful background check and in some cases it is mandated as employers are confronted with compliance issues when dealing with certain business or government contracts.

According to this article on Quest Diagnostics…”Some donors drink large volumes of liquid prior to their drug test collection in an effort to dilute their specimens, while others add water, products or chemicals to their urine specimen in an effort to mask the drugs present in their body, destroy the drugs in the specimen, or interfere with the laboratory analysis. Some donors even attempt to substitute their specimen with another person’s urine, synthetic urine or beverages.

The use of oxidizing adulterants is one of the most common ways donors try to cheat a urine drug test. According to theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an oxidizing adulterant is a substance that acts alone or in combination with other substances to oxidize drugs or drug metabolites to prevent the detection of the drugs or drug metabolites, or affects the reagents in either the initial or confirmatory drug test. Examples of oxidizing agents include, but are not limited to, nitrites, pyridinium chlorochromate, chromium (VI), bleach, iodine, halogens, peroxidase and peroxide.”

Background Checks Business Research Criminal Records Drug Screening Healthcare Employment Advice Human Resources Miscellany Staffing Uncategorized

Corra Group to be Close for Labor Day

Post author By Gordon Basichis
Post date September 2, 2015
No Comments on Corra Group to be Close for Labor Day

Corra Group, the premier background checking service for employment screening and corporate research will be closed on Monday, September 7th, for the Labor Day Holiday. We will reopen at regular business hours on Tuesday, September 8th.

We want to wish everyone a safe and healthy Labor Day Weekend.

DOT Drug Screening Human Resources Miscellany Motor Vehicle Records Press Releases Recruiting Staffing Uncategorized

Corra Group Expands Drug Testing Background Checks to Accommodate New Demand

Post author By Gordon Basichis
Post date September 2, 2015
No Comments on Corra Group Expands Drug Testing Background Checks to Accommodate New Demand

El Segundo, CA (PRWEB)August 18, 2015

Corra Group is expanding its drug testing services so that clients will having an easier time finding collection sites in proximity to their offices or close the homes of their employment candidates. The El Segundo, California based Employment Screening Company is offering both hair and urine testing through its two main partners, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp.

“We have seen new demand for drug tests,” said Corra Group Co-Founder, Nick Gustavson. “To best service our clients we are offering a full range of drug tests through both Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp. Both are national companies with a quantity of drug collection sites throughout the United States.

“Having more choices for collection sites makes it more convenient for our clients to send employment candidates for drug tests,” said Gustavson. “And with our new ordering system, ordering electronic chain of custody forms is very simple.”

Gustavson pointed out that Corra Group offers both urine and hair drug tests. He noted the urine drug tests can consist of anywhere from the more standard five or ten panel drug tests to the more specialized twelve panel drug tests often mandated by medical facilities.

“Corra Group can facilitate DOT drug testing,” said Gustavson. “We now offer hair tests in both the standard five panel format and the five panel hair drug test with opiates. Hair drug tests are background checks that can detect drugs in the candidate’s system as far back as ninety days.”

Gustavson took note that employers conducting drug tests should be aware that even with the legalization and the liberalization of marijuana, employees can still be fired for its usage.

For the full release please click on this link.

Background Checks Criminal Records DOT Drug Screening

Proposal to Administer Hair Drug Tests to DOT Truck Drivers

Post author By Gordon Basichis
Post date August 24, 2015
No Comments on Proposal to Administer Hair Drug Tests to DOT Truck Drivers

As a full service employment screening company for the trucking industry, Corra Group includes DOT mandated drug tests as one of its background checks to meet compliance standards. The new proposal to switch from urine based drug tests to hair based drug tests is most interesting. Hair Drug Tests are more accurate and you can pick up illegal drugs as far back as ninety days.

According to the article in TheHill the new proposal for hair drug tests is meeting with resistance. Nor surprising.

Some of the comments found in the article…”Every day, thousands of hair

tests are performed worldwide within both the private and public sectors,” American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves wrote in a letter to lawmakers on the House and Senate transportation committees on Monday, urging Congress to approve the transition.

“Their reason for using hair testing is laudable … hair testing is an effective tool for identifying drug users due to its long detection window and because it is difficult for donors to beat the test,” Graves continued.

Hair testing involves comparing testing a follicle of hair for signs of drugs within a window that is typically about 90 days long. Traditional urine testing typically only captures drug use within a shorter period of a couple of weeks.

However, “It is widely known that hair specimen can test positive for a drug that its donor was merely exposed to but never actually ingested,” the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department wrote in a letter to similar group of lawmakers on the House Transportation Committee.

“Studies also show that hair testing may have an inherent racial bias, as darker and more porous hair retains drugs at greater rates than lighter hair,” the group continued. “And recently, a federal court of appeals held that Boston police officers subject to hair testing for illegal drugs had proven, ‘beyond reasonable dispute,’ a prima facie case that the testing program caused a disparate impact on the basis of race in violation of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

The fight over hair testing is intensifying, as both sides of the debate are seeking to get a leg up with the lower chamber during recess. The House is expected to work on its own transportation funding package when lawmakers return to Washington in the fall. ”

So begins the controversy concerning hair drug tests versus urine drug tests. Drug testing is a necessary background check, and considering the hazards of the highway, I would think it prudent to conduct the best drug test possible for the DOT.