Skip to main content

Legal Notes: Graham County, N.C. Board of Education Random Drug Testing

A recent decision by a North Carolina Court of Appeals recently ruled that the Graham County Board of Education in N.C. violated its employee’s rights by implementing a policy mandating the random, suspicionless drug and alcohol testing of all Board employees.

In 2006, all Board employees were subject to an Alcohol and Drug-Free Workplace Policy which required all job applicants to pass an alcohol or drug test as a condition of employment. It required all employees to submit to an alcohol or other drug test upon a supervisor's reasonable cause to believe that the employee was using alcohol or illegal drugs, or abusing prescription drugs, in the workplace.

Any employee who was placed on the approved list to drive school system vehicles needed to submit to “random drug tests.” Additionally, the policy mandated the suspension of any employee who, in a supervisor's opinion, was impaired by alcohol or drugs in the workplace.

The Board of Education enacted a new testing policy at the end of 2006 requiring all employees to submit to random, suspicionless testing. A group of employees sued the Board of Education 5 months later claiming a violation of their rights.

Originally the trial court ruled for the school board, but later the court reversed the decision in favor of the school employees on the grounds that it violated the state Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches.

Popular posts from this blog

New Oxycodone Formula Gets Backing of FDA

The FDA recently voted in favor of pushing a new formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride for approval. The new OxyContin formula is more difficult to crush or dissolve which will hopefully make it harder to be used as a drug of abuse . The FDA recommended that Purdue Pharma's application for a new, resin-coated formulation should replace the original version, which has been on the market since 1996. Randall Flick, MD, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who voted to recommend approval of the drug said, "Clearly the old formulation is worse than the new, although I think the difference is relatively small," Flick concluded, "Hardcore abusers are likely to devise new ways to break down the harder tablet or figure out which solvents will dissolve it fastest, within 'day or weeks' of the product's release on the market."

Utah Debates Drug Testing for Public Assistance

Utah has begun to follow the path that so many other states have traveled earlier this year. The path leads to drug testing for public assistance. Utah Senator Dennis Stowell had asked that the issue be studied carefully and Rep. Christopher Herrod said "If someone's on drugs, we shouldn't be giving them money," he said. "There's nowhere in the Constitution that says, 'You have a right to get welfare." At the center of the debate is cost and legality. An analyst for Community Action Partnership of Utah stated that "The cost to test all Utah’s families that receive 'Temporary Assistance for Needy Families' would be high." The analyst added, "That testing all welfare recipients just once would cost about $255,000 and a lawsuit against the state would likely cost more than $1 million." Further discussion and analysis is planned in the upcoming months to decide whether to study the issue further, table the issue or wait un...

CHEATERS DON'T WIN! NC Man's Tricks Backfire During Drug Test

Jeffrey Selph has found himself in the jailhouse for trying to cheat and beat his drug test. Selph was caught by his probation officer with a "yellow like tube with urine" in his possession right before his test. Selph was booked on a charge of defraud drug/alcohol screening tests under a $3,000 bond. Other Drug Test Cheating Stories on MMC's Drug Free Blog... U.S. Airways Express Pilot Doubled As Drug Testing Cheat Entrepreneur Pittsburgh Court Sentences Maker of "Whizzinator" Drug Testing Cheat Device If You Are Going to Cheat On Your Drug Test... Be Prepared to Face The Consequences! Lawrence Taylor's Drug Riddled Past Re-Examined by New Charges Synthetic Human Urine Employed To Pass Drug Tests Illinois Man Caught Cheating on Urine Drug Test Mobile Medical Corporation ( MMC ), a Pittsburgh Drug Testing firm continually monitors the news outlets for incidents of drug test cheating in order to provide further information on the topic. Mobile Medical Corp...