A new law signed into effect at the end of March requires mandatory drug test reporting by employers. This means anyone who fails a drug test and works in a safety-sensitive mining position will have their drug test results forwarded to the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training.
Within seven days of a drug test, employers are required to report:
- A positive test of any kind
- Refusal to test
- Whether the applicant was in possession of an adulterated sample
- Whether the applicant submitted an adulterated sample
Before the new law was passed, employers needed only to report if an employee was fired for failing a drug test, refusing to test, or trying to doctor the results. Now, an employee must be reported for anything except a negative test. This law also applies to any testing, whether it’s a pre-employment screen, post-accident screen, reasonable suspicion test or random drug test.
When notifying the OMHST, employers are required to provide the test results, including the substances and amounts found. Employees cannot have action taken against them purely because of test results until arbitration has been concluded. This applies to union and non-union workers.
Previous law required pre-employment drug screening as well as random drug tests. For ten separate substances, including amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine, opiates, PCP, benzodiazepines, propoxyphene, methadone, barbiturates, and, synthetic narcotics.
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