NYS Department of Labor unemployment eligibility after refusing drug test at job offer
I was offered a position last month that would have paid $18/hour but they required a drug test as part of the hiring process. I declined to take the test for personal reasons and obviously didn't get the job. Now I'm wondering if this affects my unemployment benefits with NYS Department of Labor? I've been filing my weekly claims and doing my job search requirements, but I'm worried they might find out about this somehow and say I refused suitable work. Has anyone dealt with something like this before?
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Abigail Spencer
This is actually a gray area with NYS Department of Labor rules. Refusing a drug test isn't technically the same as refusing the job offer itself. If the drug test was a condition of employment and you declined it, you essentially withdrew from consideration rather than refusing suitable work. However, you should be prepared to explain this if it comes up during any adjudication process.
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Anita George
•That makes sense. Should I mention this when I file my weekly claim or just wait to see if they ask about it?
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Logan Chiang
I had something similar happen two years ago. The key thing is whether the job was considered 'suitable work' under NYS Department of Labor guidelines. If it matched your skills and the pay was reasonable for your area, it could potentially be an issue. But like the other person said, declining a drug test is different from outright refusing a job offer.
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Isla Fischer
•Did NYS Department of Labor ever find out about your situation? I'm curious how they would even know unless the employer reported it.
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Logan Chiang
•They never asked me about it specifically. I think employers usually only report actual hires or if someone completely no-shows for an interview.
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Miles Hammonds
I've been trying to get through to NYS Department of Labor for weeks about my own adjudication issue and can't even get past the busy signal. If you need to talk to someone about this, I recently found out about this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that helps people get through to unemployment agents. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Might be worth checking out if you want to get a definitive answer about your situation.
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Ruby Blake
•Is that service legit? I'm so frustrated with not being able to reach anyone at NYS Department of Labor.
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Miles Hammonds
•Yeah, it worked for me. I was able to get through and talk to an actual person about my claim status. Way better than sitting on hold for hours.
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Micah Franklin
honestly i dont think they care about drug tests unless u were like already working somewhere and got fired for failing one. if u never actually started the job how would they even know?? just keep doing ur job searches and filing ur weekly claims
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Ella Harper
Wait, I'm confused about this whole thing. Are you saying you can get in trouble for not taking a job? I thought unemployment was just for people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. I've been on unemployment for 3 months and nobody ever told me I had to take any job that was offered to me.
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Abigail Spencer
•You're required to actively search for work and accept suitable employment offers. If you refuse a suitable job without good cause, NYS Department of Labor can disqualify you from receiving benefits. But there are exceptions for things like unsafe working conditions, inadequate pay, or if the job doesn't match your skills and experience.
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PrinceJoe
This whole system is so messed up! They expect you to take any job but then half the employers want you to jump through ridiculous hoops like drug tests, background checks, credit checks. Meanwhile NYS Department of Labor makes it impossible to actually talk to a human being when you have questions. I've been fighting with them for months over my claim status.
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Amara Oluwaseyi
I went through something similar about 6 months ago. From what I learned, the NYS Department of Labor generally considers refusing a pre-employment drug test as withdrawing your application rather than refusing suitable work. The key distinction is that you never actually received a firm job offer - the drug test was a prerequisite TO getting the offer. I ended up calling the unemployment office (took forever to get through) and they confirmed that as long as you're still actively job searching and meeting your weekly requirements, this shouldn't affect your benefits. Just make sure you're documenting all your job search activities in case they ever audit your claim.
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