Public Employees, Drug Testing

Michigan Court Confirms that Public Employers May Enforce Zero-Tolerance Drug Policies

Miller Canfield on 2/21/2019

The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that a public employer is free to deny at-will employment to a medical marijuana cardholder who fails a drug test in violation of a zero-tolerance drug policy. The court used sweeping...more

Court Affirms Reinstatement of A School Bus Driver Who Tested Positive For Drug Use

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on 6/25/2018

Upper Merion Area School District v. Teamsters Local #384, 165 A.3d 56 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2017). The Commonwealth Court holds that an arbitrator’s decision to reinstate a school bus driver to her position with back pay when the bus...more

AG Requires New Jersey Police Departments To Randomly Drug Test Officers

Genova Burns LLC on 4/4/2018

The New Jersey Attorney General has issued new directive requiring all law enforcement agencies in the state to conduct random drug testing. The guidelines now make all officers subject to drug testing, whether they are...more

Government Employee Can Proceed To Trial On Her Challenge To The District Of Columbia’s “Blanket” Drug And Alcohol Tests

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 10/25/2017

The federal court for the District of Columbia ruled that a former employee of the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (“OCME”) could proceed to trial with her claims that drug and alcohol tests she was required to take...more

Unreliable Anonymous Tip Could Not Form Basis Of Reasonable Suspicion Drug Test By Public Employer

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 5/1/2017

A public employee established a Fourth Amendment violation by several individual supervisors of his former employer when they selected him for reasonable suspicion drug testing – and later discharged him — based on an...more

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Public Employee For Failing Random Drug Test

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 3/21/2017

The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas did not violate a public employee’s Fourth Amendment rights by requiring the employee to submit to a random drug test or by terminating his employment when he...more

Consistent Enforcement of Drug Policies Key to Avoiding Disparate Treatment Claims

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 8/19/2016

Following termination stemming from a positive drug test for marijuana, a Native American female, appearing pro se, filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, Mohave County’s Public Works Department. She alleged...more

Public Employees › Drug Testing