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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing Act
Utah’s Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing Act provides that no cause of action may be brought against any employer who establishes a drug and alcohol testing program in compliance with the act.
Employers are specifically authorized to conduct any type of testing in order to maintain the safety of employees and the public or to maintain productivity and quality of services and products. Reasonable suspicion and post-accident testing are mentioned, as well as testing in incidents of workplace theft. Testing of applicants as well as employees is allowed.
If a testing program is implemented, all management personnel must also be subject to testing.
The law requires that specific requirements be met with regard to drug testing procedures. Collection must be performed under reasonable and sanitary conditions, and privacy concerns must be considered. The sample must be collected, stored, and transported to the testing site in a way that reasonably deters contamination or adulteration of the specimen. Testing must conform to scientifically accepted analytical methods and procedures. A certified lab must test a urine sample before it can be considered a failed test and used as a basis for adverse action by an employer.
The act does not apply to public employers.
Workers’ compensation
Utah’s workers’ compensation law provides for denial of benefits when the major contributing cause to an employee’s injury or occupational disease is the use of illegal substances, the intentional abuse of prescribed substances, or intoxication. Benefits are denied unless the employer permitted, encouraged, or had actual knowledge of such behaviors.
Defrauding an alcohol or drug screening
It is illegal for a person to distribute, possess, or sell synthetic urine or an adulterant with the intention that it be used to defraud an alcohol or drug screening. It is also illegal to use synthetic urine, an adulterant, or another person’s urine or body fluid to defraud a drug or alcohol test.
An entity collecting drug testing specimens for an employer shall report information about adulterated or synthetic urine to the employer and the Department of Public Safety.
State
Contacts
Labor Commission of Utah—Division of Industrial Accidents
Regulations
Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing Act
Utah Code Title 34, Chapter 38, §34-38-1 to -15
Workers’ compensation
Utah Code Title 34A, Chapter 3, §34A-3-112
Federal
Under the Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses final rule, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) prohibits employers from using drug testing, or the threat of drug testing, to retaliate against an employee for reporting an injury or illness.
Employers may conduct post-incident drug testing if there is a reasonable possibility that employee drug use could have contributed to the reported injury or illness.
Contacts
Drug testing rules
U.S. Department of Transportation
Regulations
DOT drug testing rules
49 CFR Part 40
49 CFR Part 382
Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988
United States Code at 41 U.S.C. 81
Guidance document