Saving Lives and Money: Solving Substance Abuse in the Workplace
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article discusses the effects substance abuse can have on the workplace and what employers can do to prevent it.
Walking the Workplace Privacy Tightrope: Seizing Your Rights as an Employer--Without Violating Those of Your Employees
Norman H. Kirshman
I.INTRODUCTION: Employers' concerns in today's workplace cannot be limited to production, profits and competition..
Substance Abuse: Symptoms and Intervention
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article discusses the symptoms of substance abuse and the process by which an employer can intervene to encourage the employee to seek help.
Educate Yourself--Substance Abuse Awareness is the Best Defense
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article gives an overview of the resources available to small businesses.
Drug and Alcohol Policies: Manufacturing Employer
Douglas B. M. Ehlke of Ehlke Law Offices
Manufacturing employers who seek to prevent work-related drug and alcohol problems, or who must comply with government safety or DOT truck driver regulations, should have a written policy. Such a policy educates both hourly employees and supervisors on what appropriate conduct is required of them, sets uniform discipline standards and helps obtain potential relief, where statutorily available, from workers' compensation claims for accidents that are drug or alcohol related. Such a policy may be needed to challenge unemployment compensation benefit applications by former employees fired for drug or alcohol related misconduct.
Employee Consent to Drug Test
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP
Poulos v. Pfizer, 244 Conn. 598 (1998) Poulos sued his employer Pfizer, claiming that Pfizer v.
Employee Drug Testing
Fargarson & Brooke
The Supreme Court has ruled that an employer's decision to terminate a worker who tests positive for .
Employment Law: Employers must enforce drug-testing policies in a way that minimizes exposure to tort claims
Sue M. Bendavid-Arbiv of Arter & Hadden LLP
For many employers, drug-testing policies have proved indispensable as a safeguard against hiring and retaining employees with potentially dangerous drug or alcohol problems. In states like California, however, such practices remain a thorny issue, as employers must carefully enforce any drug-testing policy in a way that does not increase their exposure to employment-related tort claims, especially for invasion of privacy.
Drug Testing Program Upheld For Job Applicants But Not For Current Employees
Cooley Godward Kronish LLP
This article concerns a recent decision by the California Supreme Court that details the rights and liabilities a employer may face when requiring mandatory drug testing.
Taking a Stand Against Substance Abuse With a Written Policy Statement
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article discusses the advantages of writing a substance abuse policy statement and the issues that should be addressed in writing.
Genetics Testing of Employees Ends After EEOC Files Lawsuit
W. Mark Gavre of Parsons Behle & Latimer
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad recently settled a lawsuit brought by the EEOC over the company's genetic testing of certain employees. The railroad required employees who made workers' compensation claims for carpel tunnel syndrome to submit to genetic testing. The company was interested in whether the employees had a genetic propensity for the condition, which might indicate that their injuries were not work-related.
Protecting Your Business Against the Renegade Employee
Stein, Sperling, Bennett, De Jong, Driscoll & Greenfeig, P.C.
At one point or another, nearly all businesses will be forced to deal with issues such as theft, workplace violence.
Court of Appeals Upholds Random Drug Testing of School District Custodians While Rejecting Drug Testing of All School Employees Injured on the Job
Robbins, Schwartz, Nicholas, Lifton & Taylor, Ltd.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided two cases regarding random and suspicionless drug testing of .
Drug and Alcohol Testing Rules: An Overview
U.S. Department of Transportation
Overview prepared by the Department of Transportation which describes the Federal Highway Administration's drug and alcohol testing rules for persons required to obtain a commercial driver's license.
Labor & Employment Update--September 1998
Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP
This labor and employment report contains articles entitled: Court Rules That Non-Supervisors Cannot Be Personally Liable For Harassment; California Supreme Court Rules That Plaintiffs Can Base Wrongful Termination Lawsuits On Administrative Regulations; California Court Holds That Privilege Shields Managers From Liability Arising From Termination Of At-Will Employees; and Job Applicant Who Delays Test Until After Hire May Be Terminated For Failing To Pass Drug Screen.
Employers Exhale: United States Supreme Court Medical Marijuana Decision Aids Employer Anti-Drug Programs
Nancy N. Delogu and Dale L. Deitchler of Littler Mendelson, P.C.
Employer drug and alcohol abuse prevention and testing programs recently received a boost when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Gonzales v. Raich, No. 03-1451 (June 6, 2005), that state laws authorizing the use of marijuana to treat illness do not insulate drug users from federal law making such behavior criminal.
Uncovering the Hidden Signs of Workplace Substance Abuse
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article discusses the behaviors that may indicate a substance abuse problem including poor work performance, attitude problems, and various physical symptoms.
Employees' Rights to Privacy
Lisa Mann of Modrall Sperling
Increasingly, employers are discovering that they need to know facts about their employees which may not be immediately apparent in the workplace - facts about their employees or prospective employees' credit and prior histories, facts about their employees' conduct in the workplace during "personal" or "break" time, facts about their employees' use of e-mail or Internet, facts about their employees' off-duty conduct, and facts about their employees' medical conditions.
Training Supervisors: A Critical Link in a Successful Substance Abuse Prevention Program
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article examines the supervisor's roll in preventing substance abuse.
DOT Drug-Free Workplace Regulations
United States Department of Labor-Office of the Solicitor
This article provides an overview of the Department of Transportation (DOT) Drug Free Workplace Regulations.
North Carolina Court Of Appeals Recognizes Wrongful Discharge Claim Based on Employer's Failure to Follow State Drug Testing Law
Duff, White & Turner, LLC
In Garner v. Rentenbach Constructors, Inc., 129 N.C. App. 624, 501 S.E. 2d 83 (1998), the North Carolina Court of .
Summary of the DOT's Revised Drug and Alcohol Testing Rule
Roger S. Kaplan,Kathryn J. Russo and Paul J. Siegel of Jackson Lewis LLP
This article summarizes the new Department of Transportation rule that revised the policy of drug and alcohol testing applicable to transportation workers in safety-sensitive positions.
Information For Public Housing Attorneys
Housing & Urban Development Department
This publication includes four letter rulings from the HUD about the legal issues involving the one strike and you're out rule.
Employment Testing
Daniel W. Long of Modrall Sperling
This paper discusses employment strategies that allow employers to use pre- and post-hiring testing to place the right employees in the right positions. Although testing creates some risks, it can often provide employers with information that could otherwise only be gained the hard way - after failure of the employment relationship.