Pros
Decent pay, my closest managers were great guys and treated me well, project/BAU work was good
Cons
Breedon drug tests all employees, or at least are meant to within 1-3 months from starting, but in my case they didn't test me at all. Only until over a year later where testing finally came to surface, is where I explained my situation in order to be transparent. If you have or can get access to legal medical cannabis (legal in the UK for medical reasons since 2018) by having any of a specific set of health conditions, you will likely be forced to resign (if you value your health above all else) or be fired for gross misconduct without any professional courtesy of notice period pay, even though Breedon cannot prove whether you are actively impaired whilst at work or not. To explain drug tests for cannabis are well known for not being able to test for active impairment, and are only able to detect the metabolites in your system which can remain for weeks/months without impacting cognitive function. Despite this scientific fact of being detectable even if you used months ago, you will be automatically deemed untrustworthy, presumed guilty of being at work impaired if you only need cannabis outside working hours. If you drive whilst working for Breedon given the above, they will say your role is safety critical, and you won't be fit to drive. The problem with this, however, is that under the Road Traffic Act (1988), Section 5A(3) provides a defence if a specified controlled drug is prescribed or supplied in accordance with the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and taken in accordance with medical advice. Therefore, so long as you feel you are not impaired by your medication, you have a statutory defence to drive. There is no case law for a medical cannabis patient being taken to court for driving, and likely won't be, because of this medical defence clause. If Breedon claim you cannot go on sites due to cannabis use for medical reasons outside working hours, again there is no evidence, just pure assumption that you will be impaired. There is no reverse burden of proof here, Breedon must prove active impairment and simply are unable to, as my performance was good and was never thought to have been under the influence by my colleagues or managers. So not only couldn't they prove anything with a drug test that doesn't demonstrate impairment, they also had no evidence from any others sources, such as managers suspicion, using on company premises and so on. The choice with all of this is simple, in Breedon's view. You either agree to stop using cannabis/don't start use, all while Breedon being fully aware that it would be at the detriment to your health, or face the aforementioned consequences. And this isn't solely for myself either, I was informed how other staff members have been treated the same way in the past, being forced to either accept demotion, resignation or be dismissed. Bear in mind as well that under the Equality Act 2010, its unlawful to discriminate against any staff that have medical conditions and the medication they take to deal with their conditions. It's quite disgusting frankly being forced to feel like you're doing something bad rather than trying to improve your own wellbeing, and that Breedon can get away with it by making sure all employees are drug tested way before 2 years of service to catch out anyone who uses for medical purposes. The reason being is that the majority of companies are fully aware that only at 2+ years of employment do you have more protection in UK employment law, and therefore ensure you don't gain that length of service. It's why 1 year contracts are so prevalent. One final thought to bear in mind, nothing in UK law states that you must inform any employers up front about your health conditions and what you do to treat it. Company policies do not stand above the law, so if you do decide to be transparent its clear by doing so you will be vilified and discriminated against.
