Human Resource Blog

Nebraska Drug Free Policy

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 One of our best employees has just returned from surgery and frequently takes drugs at work.  Her performance is still excellent, but we are concerned because we are a Nebraska drug-free workplace. Do we have to fire her?

The employee is taking the medication for a valid medical reason. You don’t need to fire her, of course, any more than you would have to fire the worker who takes an aspirin for a headache.

Drug-free workplace policies are in place not to penalize workers who legitimately take medications. They are to stop the workplace use of illegal drugs and the abuse of addictive legal ones. The drug free workplace is supposed to prevent the use of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and other illegal substances on the job. It is meant to stop employees from abusing prescription medications like Oxycontin and amphetamines.

It is not meant to prevent your employee from taking her medication to ease inflammation and pain. It’s not designed to stop a diabetic employee from taking insulin on the job. The worker who needs to take an aspirin for a headache is not the target of the drug-free workplace. Neither is the man with high blood pressure who must take his medication at work, nor the woman who takes her birth control pill in the break room, or in her cubicle.

As an employer, you could even be sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, if you did fire someone taking a medication for a valid medical purpose.

You describe your employees as one of the best you have. Her medications have obviously not interfered with her work. If the drugs were prescribed by her doctor, and she’s taking them according to directions, neither your nor she have anything to worry about.

You may ask her to supply a statement from her physician outlining the fact that her medical condition requires these medications. But remember that if you do so, fairness would require you to ask other employees as well.

And consider too that there is confidentiality to consider. You need not even know what her medical condition is. But if you find out, HIPAA requires that you do not tell anyone else.

If your employee’s use of prescription drugs impairs her performance, then you might want to take another look at the situation. In that case, you will be dealing with the poor performance, not the drug use.