This November, voters in California will decide whether to mandate drug and alcohol testing for doctors in the Golden State.

Proposition 46 – formally known as “Drug And Alcohol Testing Of Doctors.  Medical Negligence Lawsuits.  Initiative Statute.” – will appear on the ballot in California’s upcoming elections.  If passed, hospitals operating in the State will

May unemployment benefits be denied where an employee authorized to use medical marijuana under state law tests positive for the drug on a workplace substance abuse test, is fired under the employer’s zero tolerance policy, and seeks unemployment compensation?   

Michigan’s state Court of Appeals is being asked to provide an answer. 

Rick Braska, a fork-lift

AN ASSORTMENT OF MARIJUANA AND OTHER DRUG ABUSE HAPPENINGS…. HEROIN USE IS SURGING as governmental efforts mount to halt prescription drug abuse, UPI reports.  With prescription opioids and other drugs getting harder to obtain, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine says heroin use has risen nearly100 percent in the past decade.  

Commercial laboratories owe a duty of care to drug testing subjects and the failure to follow established procedures may be a violation of that duty in certain circumstances, according to a recent decision by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  Rodriguez v. Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, d/b/a LabCorp, 2014

The first law in the nation to require the widespread drug testing of health care employees may be on its way to passage, as the New Hampshire House of Representatives has passed by a vote of 289-48, without debate, “An Act relative to the drug-free workplaces for licensed health care facilities and providers,” on January

An administrative assistant’s belief that her employer asked her to engage in unethical conduct in dealing with company drug testing and alcohol abuse incidents did not give her good reason to quit her job or receive unemployment benefits, a Minnesota court has held.  That (a) the employee may have felt uncomfortable because the plant manager

Michigan’s new drug testing disqualification law (Act No. 146 of 2013) amending the state’s “Employment Security Act” (MCL 421.129), provides that for one year after the enactment’s effective date (October 29, 2013), an individual will be considered to have refused an offer of suitable work if the prospective employer administers pre-employment drug tests on a

An Iowa appellate court reversed an award of damages to an employee under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) after the employee was discharged for refusing to submit to a post-accident drug test.  Phillip M. Brown v. Mystique Casino, No. 3-723, 13-0012 (Iowa App. Oct. 2, 2013).

The employee had taken a number