Developments in Regulating Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing
A federal court in Utah upheld the termination of an employee who did not disclose his use of prescription medication in accordance with his employer’s policy. Angel v. Lisbon Valley Mining Co., Case No. 2:14-CV-00733 (D. Utah Nov. 23, 2015).
Angel was employed as a haul truck driver at Lisbon Valley Mining Co., a…
In the last three years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed numerous lawsuits against employers who take adverse actions against applicants and employees who use prescription medications. In accordance with that trend, EEOC filed suit on November 3, 2015 against an employer who purportedly refused to hire a recovering drug addict using methadone, alleging…
During a visit to the state of West Virginia on October 21, 2015, President Obama addressed the country’s growing prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic by announcing several efforts to address these issues.
The President’s actions focus on the increase in heroin-related overdoses in recent years – which nearly doubled between 2011 and 2013. According…
The National Safety Council (“NSC”) has published a report entitled Prescription Pain Medications: A Fatal Cure For Injured Workers, urging employers to educate employees about the dangers of using opioid pain medications – such as addiction and death – while also taking steps to avoid potential liability in workers’ compensation and personal injury litigation.
The…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) proposed new guidelines in the Federal Register on May 15, 2015 that would revise the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs in two significant ways: (1) to permit the testing of oral fluid specimens for drugs; and (2) to include drug testing for…
The New York Times reported on April 18, 2015 that employees increasingly are abusing stimulants used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to be more productive at work.
Prescription stimulants have a calming and “focusing” effect on individuals with A.D.H.D., a disorder marked by severe impulsivity and inattention. The Times article stated that while reliable…
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued on September 30, 2014 a reminder to Medical Review Officers (MROs) concerning transportation employees’ use of prescription medications. Specifically, the reminder addressed the process to be followed when verifying drug test results of employees who use prescription medications, as well as the MRO’s obligation to raise fitness-for-duty concerns…
Pre-offer drug tests to determine the use of both legal and illegal drugs violated the Americans with Disabilities Act’s prohibition on pre-offer medical inquiries, a federal court in Pennsylvania held on March 6, 2014. EEOC v. Grane Healthcare Co. and Ebensburg Care Center, LLC, d/b/a Cambria Care Center, CV No. 3:10-250 (W. Dist. Pa.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on October 24, 2013 that it intends to recommend that products containing hydrocodone should be reclassified from Schedule III to Schedule II of the federal Controlled Substances Act, to increase controls on the use and misuse of opioid products. Hydrocodone is a narcotic pain reliever that is found…
Last year New York became the first state to enact a law mandating that doctors and pharmacists track patients’ prescription medication history. The tracking system, known as I-STOP – Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing – went into full effect on August 27, 2013, and now requires doctors to consult a database of a patient’s prescription…
