I am a registered nurse at a small hospital, i am contracted there, and not a full time employee. There are a number of things wrong with this hospital. So i have a couple of questions. 1. The director of nursing schedules some nurses (without their knowledge or consent) to work 8 (12 hour long) shifts in a row with no days off. I know some states have maximum hours per week, but can not find anything about Arizona, is it legal to schedule a nurse to work that many shifts? (The director refuses to change the schedule when asked or informed that the shifts are too much for the nurse.)
2. A co-worker was suspected of stealing narcotics. He was turned in by a fellow nurse. They obtained a urine drug test, which he failed and they fired him. I have no problem with this..... however, the same day they fired him they called me and told me that " you never had your drug test when we first hired you." So they asked me to come and do one. On the phone, i informed the secretary that I DID do the drug screen. She insisted that I did not and that I needed to come in and have one done. She went on to state that there were no records of me having the drug screen done, it was not in my file. I went in that day and provided them with the requested sample. When i next worked, I asked a friend to check the file and see if i had the original urine drug screen in my file. Amazingly, it was there..... and it was negative for drugs. I photocopied it for my records and placed the original back into the file. Now my question is this..... Do they have the right to drug test ME, when someone else was caught doing something wrong? I have asked other nurses if they were tested and no one, that i have found, has been tested. I know it is standard practice to randomly test healthcare workers, and i totally support RANDOM testing..... but i do not feel this was random. The director at this facility is notorious for being hateful and vengeful.... and i feel i am becoming her next target with this drug screen.
Thanks for you time.....

Your second question is not my area of expertise. Someone else will be able to answer, though, hang on.

Re: scheduling, contact your professional licensing board or the agency that regulates the type of facility you work in. This is not an issue addressed by general wage and hour law.

Testing Policy Requirements - Az.
A. Testing or retesting for the presence of drugs or alcohol by an employer shall be carried out within the terms of a written policy that has been distributed to every employee subject to testing or that has been made available to employees in the same manner as the employer informs its employees of other personnel practices, including inclusion in a personnel handbook or manual or posting in a place accessible to employees. The employer shall inform prospective employees that they must undergo drug testing.

B. Within the terms of the written policy, an employer may require the collection and testing of samples for any job-related purposes consistent with business necessity.

C. In addition to the provisions of subsection B, employees or groups of employees may be required to undergo drug testing on a random or chance basis.

D. If an employer institutes a policy of drug testing or alcohol impairment testing under this article, all compensated employees including officers, directors and supervisors shall be uniformly included in the testing policy.

E. Nothing in this article shall be construed to encourage, discourage, restrict, limit, prohibit or require on-site drug testing or alcohol impairment testing.

I would say since random drug testing is allowed, that you were not discriminated against unless you were tested JUST because of a protected by law category - ie gender, religion, ethnicity. . . . Your director having you drug tested just because she is hateful & vengeful or because they say you were not tested originally (true or not) would not be protected categories or illegal.

Hold for others to come along - you may get other opinions.