Employers Win Most Drug Testing Cases

David Shadovitz, Human Resource Executive

A new book released by the Institute for a Drug Free Workplace in Washington reveals that employers are winning most drug testing related court battles. Employers prevailed in roughly two-thirds of the nearly 1,200 legal decisions on drug testing, according to the book, 2004-2005 Guide to State and Federal Drug Testing Laws.

In the last year,” says Gina M. Petro, counsel to the institute and a co-author of the guide, “87 court decisions upheld drug testing, and 46 did not.” Since the group began tracking suits in the mid-1980’s, employers prevailed in 825 cases, while challenges have been successful in only 374 cases. The numbers are somewhat higher for federal court cases, in which employers have prevailed 76 percent of the time.

Is Your Corporate Culture on Drugs?

The use of drug and alcohol testing for current and prospective employees, along with background screening, delivers a far superior result to either procedure used alone. It has long been established that drug testing prior to making an offer of employment is an acceptable first step toward a drug free workplace. When employee drug tests are administered as part of an ongoing program, whether post-accident, for reasonable suspicion, or at random, an employer benefits from increased deterrence as well as detection.
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