NextPrevious

Employment Law

Other Employment Law Considerations

Many states have passed drug-testing laws for employees and provide certain circumstances under which employees can be drug tested. Many state laws provide that employees can be tested when they are job applicants, when they have been involved in an accident (called post-accident drug testing) and when there is reasonable suspicion to conduct a drug test. Other states also allow employers to engage in random drug testing.

However, some states do not allow random drug testing for most employees. For example, Minnesota law prohibits employers from imposing random drug or alcohol tests on employees unless the employees are in “safety sensitive positions” or they are employed as professional athletes pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. Virginia law prohibits random drug testing of employee unless there is a requirement to do so under some type of federal regulation. Thus, the state laws vary quite a bit on this controversial issue.

Many employees have asserted that drug testing invades their privacy rights, but many courts have not found those claims meritorious and upheld the state laws that allow such testing. Consult with your attorney to see if there are any grounds to contest an employer drug test.