Drug-Test-Free Zones?
By: Jeremy Alford
Although his legislation is still in the developmental phase, Baton Rouge Rep. Erich E. Ponti is working on a policy change that would exclude certain petrochemical workers from mandatory employment-related drug tests. House Bill 514 aims to remove workers in “the construction, maintenance or manufacturing of any refining or petrochemical facility” from required drug tests. Ponti, a Republican, says knee-jerk reaction to his bill, which consists of only half a page, might be adverse because it’s easily misunderstood. That’s among the many reasons the bill is being repackaged and investigated further by a group of interested parties. “In theory, this would allow employers to place these people in a database so they can easily be tracked from one plant to another,” Ponti says. The legislation could allow workers to stay on the job and be monitored more closely. While it sounds like a radical idea, it’s nothing new. Louisiana already has a similar statute on the books for employees of oil and gas exploration, drilling and production companies. Such employees are expressly excluded from mandatory testing for the presence of “marijuana, opioids, cocaine, amphetamines and phencyclidine,” according to the law. A comparable provision exists in Wisconsin, where commercial pilots are allowed to fly up to four sightseeing flights a year for charity without being tested for drugs. Texas likewise has testing exclusions for certain industries. The bill is on the shelf for now while lawmakers and special interests kick the idea around. It has been assigned to the House Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, but no hearing date has been set.
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 am
Random drug testing is the best deterent to substance abuse available, when combined with education and support.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Even though it is clearly a violation of privacy, it seems that more and more companies are beginning to drug test potential employees. If you’ve applied for a job at any time in the past few years, chances are pretty good that you’ve been asked to provide a urine sample, or subject yourself to any number of other drug testing procedures. Unfortunately, even though this is clearly an invasion of your right to privacy – these drug tests can also uncover things like prescription drugs, pregnancies, and other medical issues – many companies feel that it is within their rights to test you.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Random drug testing makes sense and isn’t, in my opinion, an invasion of privacy. Job applicants and employees have the right to decided if they want to work somewhere that tests for drugs. Research shows that drug use (on the job and off the job) increases an employers costs and in many jobs puts the safety of others at risk. Clear drug testing policies are a must to protect an employer and therefore testing for anything other than that being disclosed to the employee would put an employer at risk for substantial liability. Realistically few, if any, employers would risk testing for something other than what they tell the employee they are testing for.