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Federal Drug Free Policy

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

More to the point, you don’t have any grounds to fire this employee. If she is taking doctor-prescribed medications as directed, her “drug” use is none of your business. And since you describe her employees as one of your best employees, it is obvious that her medications do not affect her job performance.

The basic tenet of being a federal drug-free workplace is that abuse of prescribed drugs, and use of illegal drugs is prohibited.

Take a deep breath and think about it. Employees take aspirins for headaches, insulin for diabetes, birth control pills, medicine to control high blood pressure, plus many other medications. Would you fire them all?

No, you wouldn’t. Why? Because prescribed medication taken for valid medical conditions is acceptable at work. In fact, firing them would probably result in you being taken to court via the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).

In any case, the purpose for a workplace policy against drugs is two-fold. One is to avoid abuse of medications such as amphetamines or Oxycontin. The other is to prohibit the use of drugs such as cocaine or heroin or marijuana, all of which are illegal.

To be fair, as an employer you can request a doctor’s note from an employee stating that he/she needs to take medications. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), however, prevents you from requiring any more information than that. What the condition is, or what medication is required is considered confidential information. So if you discover or learn what the employee is taking and/or why the employee is taking it, then you are prohibited to reveal that information to anyone else.

A good workplace policy against drug use must be fair and applied to all employees, no matter their position. You can not single out one employee over another regarding medications. If you ask your employee with the rheumatoid arthritis to provide medical statement, then you must ask it of all your employees. JH