Employee Testing
"Legal Issues"

An Employer's right to ensure a drug-free environment in the workplace is always balanced by the Employee's right to privacy. Employee drug testing in every form (blood, urine, hair, etc.) is regulated by both local State and Federal laws. Failure to follow the rules can leave a business open to a lawsuit with disgruntled employees. The following is a summary of the Federal code regarding what businesses and laboratories can and can not do in employee drug testing.

Medical Review Officer

Before any test results can be released to an employer, the testing data must be checked against medications an employee may have ingested before yielding a specimen for analysis. While drug testing methodology is specific in its analysis, it is possible that a medication either prescribed or over-the-counter may interfere with the test and indicate a false result. A MRO (a trained Medical Review Officer) reviews all medications the employee claims to have taken and raw testing data to ascertain if a problem occurred. In addition, a MRO is available to interpret sometimes complicated laboratory test results to an employer and employee.

Drug Screening

Initial employee drug testing screens must be performed by a state certified laboratory under current CLIA regulations. In addition to state certification, laboratories must participate in a voluntary proficiency testing program administered and certified by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) or an equivalent agency. Laboratories must keep accurate records, storage, security/chain of custody procedures and utilizes the methodologies of EIA, FPIA and GC/MS. Initial drug screens for employees are limited to EIA and FPIA assays with confirmation performed by another methodology.

Confirmation Testing

If an employee drug screen, initial test, is positive, the sample must be confirmed positive via Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). GC/MS involves more time and expense, but results can be narrowed to the exact chemical combination of trace drug elements providing an accurate result.

Exceptions

Alcohol Testing

The Americans with Disabilities Act qualifies Alcoholism as an accepted disability under protection by law. Therefore, employers are restricted from randomly or pre-screening employees and potential employees for alcohol (ethanol) consumption. Post-Accident and Suspicion testing allow for urine alcohol and Breath Alcohol Testing (BAT).

DOT Testing

The Department of Transportation has it's own legal code regarding employee testing of all businesses in the transportation industry (airlines, trains, trucks, etc.). Please refer to the DOT Testing page for more detailed information.