Human Resource Blog

Drug Free Policy in Maine

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One of our best employees has a medical condition and frequently takes drugs at work. We are a Maine drug-free workplace. Is there any way to avoid firing her?

Take a moment to think about what you’re asking. If you saw a woman take a birth control pill at lunch, or a man swallow an aspirin with his coffee, would you fire either one of them?

Would an employee suffering from hypertension be dismissed for taking doctor-prescribed medicine? How about someone who’s diabetic? Would you consider their insulin against the company drug policy?

Of course you wouldn’t. The drugs utilized in these occasions are for valid medical conditions. In fact, if you did discharge someone for taking any of these drugs, the employee would probably file a complaint, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Establishing a drug-free policy means illegal drugs and the abuse of legal drugs is not allowed. Illegal drugs include cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Examples of abused prescribed drugs are Oxycontin and amphetamines.

Since you consider this employee as one of your best, her medications obviously don’t impair her functions on the job. As long as the drugs she takes are doctor-prescribed and taken as ordered, they really are none of your business.

A good drug-free workplace policy needs to be fair and applied uniformly to all employees, including supervisors. If you’re concerned about a certain employee, you are within your rights to request a doctor’s note confirming that he/she needs to take medication from time to time. You are not within your rights, though, as stated in HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), to know what that medicine is or what medical condition it is used to treat.

If the employee discloses that information to you, it is considered confidential. Again, under HIPAA, you can not reveal that information to coworkers or to anyone else. Also, in the interest of fairness, do not single out an employee for medical information. If you ask for doctor’s statement from one, you must treat other workers in the same manner. JH