Top 10 Bloopers

• 1. QUESTION

  Do you spend the majority of your drug testing dollars on pre-employment testing without looking at more meaningful alternatives?

  1. RESPONSE

  Pre-employment is a valuable tool for deterrence, but is one of the least efficient forms of testing, therefore why spend the vast majority of your testing dollars on a form of testing which gives you such a low return of positives? Spend less money and get better results.

• 2. QUESTION

  Do you always conduct an alcohol test, as well as a drug test in post accident and reasonable suspicion situations?

  2. RESPONSE

  Alcohol accounts for 60% of substance abuse related accidents and is 70% of the substance abuse problem in America. To only do drug testing ignores the biggest piece of the problem.

• 3. QUESTION

  Your policy bans alcohol, but do your employees consume alcohol at company events, conferences, conventions, and while entertaining clients?

  3. RESPONSE

  The potential for a lawsuit involving punitive damages could be very significant if you don't have clear-cut rules involving alcohol.

• 4. QUESTION

  Is your post-accident testing biased towards testing the injured party?

  4. RESPONSE

  This is a major mistake, because 70% of fatal accidents where substance abuse is involved, the injured person is not the substance abuser.

• 5. QUESTION

  Does your policy have clear-cut rules involving adulterants and dilutents?

  5. RESPONSE

  There are constantly new ways of "beating" a drug test, and if you are not directly addressing these issues in your policy and with your lab, you can't do anything about it if you catch someone “cheating”.

• 6. QUESTION

  Are your definitions and referral procedures clearly laid out for each form of testing you conduct?

  6. RESPONSE

  Many companies do not have specific procedures for the decision making process of sending an employee for a test, which means that different employees of the same company are often treated differently, which is an invitation for discrimination law suits. Alternately, a manager may not even send an employee for a required test due to lack of clarity and confidence as to how to proceed.

• 7. QUESTION

  Do you have the quantifiable means of assessing whether your substance abuse policy is working?

  7. RESPONSE

  You should be able to articulate the specific objectives for your substance abuse program and be able to quantifiably measure if you are achieving them. Otherwise, you could be throwing your money away and not providing as safe and as productive an environment as you need to be.

• 8. QUESTION

  Have you considered the legal factors of the state(s) in which you operate to ensure your policy and program are legally sound and defensible?

  8. RESPONSE

  All 50 states have statutory and case laws that need to be taken into consideration when determining what an employer can and can not do.

• 9. QUESTION

  Have you successfully denied a Worker’s’ Compensation claim due to an employee being under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the accident?

  9. RESPONSE

  An employer can move to deny a Worker’s Compensation claim if the organization has a comprehensive program encompassing clear rules and has communicated these rules to the employees.

• 10. QUESTION

  Have you successfully denied an Unemployment Compensation Claim due to an employee being under the influence which led to the termination?

  10. RESPONSE

  An employer can move to deny a claim based on misconduct if the organization has a comprehensive program encompassing clear rules and has communicated these rules to the employees.