Drug Testing Laws of California

 It can be possible that your employer may ask you to test for drug usage before hiring you if you live in California. No strict regulation is imposed by Federal law regarding conducting drug tests in California.

 According to federal law, drug testing by employers is required in certain industries that are sensitive to safety like transportation and aviation, etc. The requirements for testing drug usage in California are analyzed in this article.

 The main kinds of drug tests required in California:

• The most common test is the urine drug test
• Saliva drug test
• Hair test
• Blood drug test

Drug Test for forthcoming employees

One of the terms and conditions for the future employees can be drug testing, according to some cases in California court.

The employers can do drug testing on every applicant according to the type of job. However, the employer should not be biased at all while doing this testing. The race and disability of the employees can be the basis of this discrimination.

Drug Testing for employees in California

While legalizing drug testing, the courts in California face two problems. The first issue is the reason the drug test is performed and the second is the privacy of the drug test results.

A solid argument offered by the employees is that drug testing is not needed by an employer as they can check their work history to evaluate their productivity.

 An employer can legally conduct drug testing if he is convinced about the use of drugs by an employee, but he must have various facts to support his suspicion.

Though casual testing can cause many disagreements, the courts of California have permitted haphazard testing, particularly for safety-sensitive jobs.

Drug Testing in the Transportation Industry

The federal and state laws have imposed strict regulations for drug testing on the employees and operators of commercial transport systems. Individual employees and operators will have to face penalties if they fail to follow these laws.

Drug Abuse and Disability Discrimination 

Any protection to the people presently using drugs is not provided by the Act of California Fair Employment and Housing or FEHA and Federal Americans with Disability Act or ADA. However, those who abused drugs previously, but are not using drugs after successful rehabilitation, are protected by these laws.

Proposition 215 of California

This act, also known as the Act for Compassionate Use, allows:

• Acquisition and use of medical marijuana
• No prosecution for physicians
• No criminal prosecution for patients using medical marijuana

Though the above permissions are granted still, according to the argument of the California Supreme Court, the employers are permitted to reject employment for possible employees if their marijuana test is positive because this drug can cause disability. Overall, employers can drug test employees by California law. However, testing can be limited by very specific and limited conditions. For example, employers in the private or public sector can conduct drug testing randomly for security or safety-related jobs. Before asking the existing or prospective employees for a drug test the employer should meet the requirements of drug testing laws.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Piotr Adamowicz