Category Archives: WV Safer Workplace Act

Drug testing, WV Safer Workplace Act

Drug testing in West Virginia, The Safer Workplace Act

Leave a comment

I recent­ly wrote an arti­cle about work­place drug-test­ing, and this arti­cle takes a deep­er dive into a rel­a­tive­ly new law in West Vir­ginia on the issue.

The West Vir­ginia Safer Work­place Act (the “Act”), W. Va. Code § 21–3E‑1 et seq, passed in 2017, rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment in the state’s approach to work­place drug and alco­hol test­ing. Enact­ed to pro­vide employ­ers with greater lat­i­tude in ensur­ing safe and pro­duc­tive work envi­ron­ments, the Act address­es sev­er­al legal prece­dents and attempts to estab­lish clear guide­lines for both employ­ers and employ­ees. This arti­cle looks into the key aspects of the Act, includ­ing its impact on pri­or legal deci­sions, the pro­ce­dures it man­dates, pro­tec­tions it offers to employ­ers, and the rights it affords to employees.

1. Impact on Prior Legal Decisions, Specifically Harless

Before the Act’s enact­ment, West Vir­gini­a’s stance on employ­ee drug test­ing was large­ly shaped by court deci­sions empha­siz­ing employ­ee pri­va­cy rights. The West Vir­ginia Supreme Court rec­og­nized the right of pri­va­cy in Roach v. Harp­er, 143 W. Va. 869, 105 S.E.2d 564 (1958). A piv­otal case in this con­text is Har­less v. First Nation­al Bank in Fair­mont, 246 S.E.2d 270 (W. Va. 1978), where the West Vir­ginia Supreme Court rec­og­nized a cause of action for wrong­ful dis­charge when an employ­ee is ter­mi­nat­ed for rea­sons that con­tra­vene sub­stan­tial pub­lic pol­i­cy. This deci­sion laid the ground­work for scru­ti­niz­ing employ­er prac­tices, includ­ing drug test­ing, that might infringe upon employ­ee rights, such as in Twigg v. Her­cules Corp., 185 W. Va. 155, 406 S.E.2d 52 (1990) (reit­er­at­ing pri­va­cy right based on Roach in Har­less claim pre­clud­ing ter­mi­na­tion of employ­ee who refused post-employ­ment drug test).

Con­tin­ue read­ing Drug test­ing in West Vir­ginia, The Safer Work­place Act →
Drug testing, Privacy, WV Safer Workplace Act

Employee Drug Testing: Balancing Workplace Safety and Privacy

1 Comment

Drug test­ing in the work­place is a con­tro­ver­sial issue. Employ­ers want to main­tain a safe and pro­duc­tive work envi­ron­ment, but employ­ees have con­cerns about pri­va­cy and fair­ness. The law tries to strike a bal­ance between these inter­ests, but it’s not always clear-cut. So, what are the rules sur­round­ing drug test­ing in employ­ment, and how do they apply in West Virginia?

When Can Employers Require Drug Testing?

Employ­ers have a legit­i­mate inter­est in ensur­ing a drug-free work­place, par­tic­u­lar­ly in safe­ty-sen­si­tive indus­tries. While fed­er­al law doesn’t require drug test­ing for most employ­ees, some sectors—like trans­porta­tion and aviation—are sub­ject to manda­to­ry test­ing under reg­u­la­tions from the Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (49 C.F.R. Part 40).

In gen­er­al, pri­vate employ­ers can require drug test­ing under the fol­low­ing circumstances:

  • Pre-employ­ment test­ing: Many employ­ers require appli­cants to pass a drug test before hiring.
  • Ran­dom test­ing: Some indus­tries con­duct ran­dom drug test­ing, espe­cial­ly for safe­ty-sen­si­tive positions.
  • Rea­son­able sus­pi­cion test­ing: If an employ­er has rea­son to believe an employ­ee is under the influ­ence, test­ing may be justified.
  • Post-acci­dent test­ing: Many employ­ers require test­ing after work­place accidents.
  • Return-to-duty test­ing: Employ­ees return­ing from reha­bil­i­ta­tion may be sub­ject to fol­low-up testing.

How­ev­er, drug test­ing poli­cies must be clear­ly com­mu­ni­cat­ed and applied con­sis­tent­ly to avoid claims of discrimination.

Con­tin­ue read­ing Employ­ee Drug Test­ing: Bal­anc­ing Work­place Safe­ty and Pri­va­cy →