More Federal Insanity

Things that make me go "Grrrrrrr!"

Feds sue Raleigh insurance office for not hiring an ex-addict

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today sued a Raleigh insurance office for not hiring a recovering drug addict who tested positive for methadone in his system.

The federal anti-discrimination agency's Charlotte office, which filed the case, said that United Insurance Company of American violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by rescinding a job offer to Craig Burns, a Raleigh resident, after he failed his drug test.

According to the suit, Burns applied for an opening as an insurance agent in December 2009 and was hired conditionally the next month, pending the outcome of the drug test.

Burns, 30, had methadone in his system because he is a recovering drug addict who has been enrolled in a supervised treatment program since at least 2004, the suit says.

"We have to set aside our personal feelings and do what the law dictates," said Lynette Barnes, the EEOC's regional attorney in Charlotte. "That's why he's covered by the ADA. He has this impairment that requires him to take the methadone."

Barnes said that "recovering addictions" are protected by the ADA as disabilities. The suit seeks back pay and lost income, as well as damages.

EEOC rarely sues over discrimination against recovering addicts. Earlier this year, however, the agency won an $85,000 settlement in a similar case in Pennsylvania after a factory rescinded a job offer to production laborer whose drug test came back positive for methadone.

Burns had been delivering pizzas for about five years when he applied for the job with United Insurance. After the insurer withdrew its offer, Burns went back to delivering pizza, Barnes said. He has a wife and a child.

Let's settle a few things. Methadone is a narcotic, a pain reliever used to treatment heroin and morphine addicts, but it it still an analgesic and if you are using it you are still an addict, not an ex-addict. You become an ex-addict when you are no longer using drugs. For the jackasses in the EEOC to pull this crap is unbelievable. Let this addict deliver pizzas until he can come clean, really, seven years of methadone (since 2004) and he's still hooked on this crap?

Let him go off on his own and OD quietly in some back alley. If he wins a settlement that is probably exactly what he will do. Buy an ounce of something and stuff it up his nose all at once. Good riddance.

Sounds harsh? Not as harsh as the costs of maintaining him on a program that promotes his dependency. And no mention of how many times he has been re-arrested and the crimes he has committed because of his addiction. Let him die.