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UK: Employers want clearer guidelines on drug testing

The Telegraph

Monday 28 Jun 2004

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Few firms have drug testing policies but two thirds of those surveyed by a
national law firm want legislation to clarify when they can dismiss staff
for intoxication.

Of 133 firms employing between 500 and 2,000 staff, 95pc told law firm
Blake Lapthorn Linnell that they did not test employees for drug use. But
Gill Leach, the employment law specialist who conducted the survey, said
64pc called for a clarification of what they can and cannot do.

Ms Leach said employment tribunal interpretation of rules designed to
prevent disability discrimination and unfair dismissal, as well as the
Human Rights Act, meant that having a drugs testing policy as a way of
discouraging staff from working while under the influence was a legal
minefield.

"The employees can just say no [to being tested] and there's nothing the
employer can do other than to take disciplinary action. But then they could
open themselves up to claims of unfair dismissal and possibly liability
under the Disability Discrimination Act," said Ms Leach.

She gave the example of a young engineer who was using drugs and started to
act aggressively towards his colleagues. He was diagnosed as having a form
of psychosis that was possibly caused by, and certainly aggravated by, his
use of illegal drugs. His colleagues refused to work with him and his
employer tried to dismiss him, but he could seek redress in an employment
tribunal under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Ms Leach said there is no ceiling on the amount of award that an employer
might have to pay for a breach of the DDA. It has been estimated that drug
use costs British business UKP800m a year. An independent, privately funded
inquiry into drug testing, which reports today, has said between 500,000
and 2m young people use ecstasy every weekend, with cannabis and cocaine
use also common.

Drug testing is routine in safety critical industries, such as railways and
airlines.

 

 

 

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