Drugs, Alcohol & Addiction

• Employers are permitted to prohibit the use of alcohol in the workplace. Violation of such policy, even if contributable to alcoholism, does not negate disciplinary action.
• An employer can require an employee with alcohol addiction to meet the same standards of performance and behavior as other employees.
• As a reasonable accommodation, an employer must grant an employee’s request to take leave for rehabilitation, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship to the employer.

An employer may subject an employee who has been off from work in an alcohol rehabilitation program to periodic testing when the employee returns to work, but only if there is reasonable, objective belief the employee will pose a direct threat in the absence of testing. The reasonable, objective belief requires an individualized assessment of the employee and their position and cannot be based on general assumptions. 

An employer is permitted to conduct initial and random drug testing, if it does so for all candidates and employees.

If an employee is taking an opioid medication as directed for a substance recovery program, then the employee has a valid prescription, and their use of the medication is legal. Under the ADA, you cannot be denied a job or fired from a job because you are in a substance recovery program, unless you cannot do the job safely and effectively.

An employer should give anyone subject to drug testing an opportunity to provide information about lawful drug use that may cause a drug test result that’s positive for opioid or marijuana use. As long as the employee can perform the job safely and effectively, the employer can reasonably accommodate the employee’s positive and lawful drug screening.