Random Drug Testing vs Employees' Privacy Rights

A. Court Cases Affecting Privacy of Employees and Drug Testing in the Workplace

1. Supreme Court cases affirming drug testing

a. Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives Association 109 S.Ct

1402(1989)

b. National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, 109 S.Ct. 1384 (1989)

2. Other lower court and State court rulings

a. Kraslawsky v. Upper Deck 56 Cal.App.4th 179, 66 Cal Rptr.2d.297(CA 4, 1997)

b. Pettus v. DuPont, 49 Cal.App.4th402, 57 Cal.Rptr.2d 46 (1997)

3. Supreme Court cases dealing with Privacy in general

a. Griswold v. Connecticut381 U.S. 479, dealing with individual rights to privacy

B. How Do You Define Drugs?

1. Just Illegal Drugs on the Street?

2. Alcohol can be abused to?

C. What is Reasonable Suspicion?

1. Who should be the one to decide this?

a. What should the criteria be?

2. Should we only test the most critical jobs that are for the safety of the public good?

D. Lab Testing

1. Is it accurate and can the employer rely on the outcome?

2. How much do you spend to make sure you get the right answers

E. Positive Test

1. How should the information be handled?

2. What should be done with the employee?

3. What about rehabilitation?

F. Who's Rights are We Infringing On

1. Employees?

2. Employers?

Privacy and drug testing have gone hand in hand since President George Bush instituted the Drug-Free Workplace Act in 1988. This act only affected federal workers and was only to be used in certain circumstances, so as to not impact the privacy of the federal employees, but to make sure that the federal workplace was a safe place to work in. This was actually the start of pre-employment drug testing and the on going testing of those who had returned from a rehabilitation programs for drug...

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...ation turn out to be false.

For the employer you have an absolute right to determine whether someone is sufficiently healthy to do a job. The employer should make sure that if they test that the yield results are relevant to the job in question. (Employment Labor and Law 535)

Bibliography:

DD. Bennett-Alexander & LP Hartman (2001), Employment Law for Business, 3rd Edition, Irwin McGraw-Hill Publishing. (1998, December)

http://www.sundoulos.com/answers/body_drug.html (1994, February)

http://www.brobeck.com/sslitle/8.htm (1998, August)

http://www.fairmeasures.com/print/articles/drugtest.html (1996, March)

http://www.nesl.edu/lawrev/vol30/vol30-2/Obrien.htm (2000, November)

http://www.aclu.org/library/pbr5.html (1997, June)

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/1997/970623/ask1.html

Curry, Sheree R., "Big Brothers want a close look at your hair" Fortune. June 1997