Employment Drug Test Laws

• Laws regarding employment drug testingholder with test tubes image by alma_sacra from Fotolia.com
  
  Before you are hired into a new job, you may have to take a drug test. Passing a drug test shows your suitability for a job and your ability to operate drug-free in the workplace. Although drug testing is required for most employment, there are laws regarding the policies of drug testing. Potential employees who are required to take a drug test have rights.
  
  

Types of Laws

• There are two different types of laws that are used to regulate drug testing in the workplace. These are federal and state laws. Employers must abide by both sets of laws, although certain private employers are not required to abide by the laws. There is a federal set of guidelines and laws employers must follow which were updated in November 2008. They are the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs put in place by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration.
  
  

Types of Testing/Process

• Types of testing used for workplace testing are urine, blood, hair, and oral swabs, with urine being the most common method of specimen collection. There is a process to collect and analyze a specimen that must be followed, which is chain of custody, initial screen, confirmation test, and split specimen testing. Chain of custody documents the handling of a specimen, initial screen is the first analysis performed on a specimen, and confirmation testing confirms any positive or negative results. Split testing is done as a final measure to determine whether positive tests are accurate or not by testing at a second facility.
  
  

Urine Testing

• According to Section 12.15 from the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing, urine is classified in 3 different ways. A specimen is classified as negative when a urine sample is determined valid in composition (unaltered), and tests negative to the screening of all drugs. A specimen is classified as diluted and ineligible for testing when the creatinine level is more than 5 milligrams per decilitre but less than 20 milligrams per decilitre. Specific gravity is equal to or more than 1.002 but less than 1.003 in a diluted sample. A sample is considered rejected for testing when mishandling occurs such as a broken specimen seal, incorrect labeling or another episode occurs that is considered a "fatal flaw".
  
  

Laws

• Also according to Section 12.15, from the mentioned guidelines, a Health and Human Services- certified Instrumented initial test facility (HHS-certified IITF) must report testing results to an employer's chosen physician within three working days of receiving the specimen. Before reporting results, the results must be confirmed by a certifying technician.
  
  According to Section 14.1, a donor can request a "split specimen". A donor can request that a specimen be split and tested at a second HHS-certified laboratory when one certified laboratory has deemed it as altered, diluted or tampered in some other way.
  
  

Complete Guidelines/Laws

• The complete list of guidelines that must be followed in drug testing procedures and reporting can be found on the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration website under the Drug Testing tab and then choosing Mandatory Guidelines under Regulations and Notices. State specific laws can be found by visiting the United States Department of Labor and looking at the Drug-Free Workplace section.