Pubdate: Fri, 22 Jul 2005
Source: Parkersburg News, The (WV)
Copyright: 2005, The Parkersburg News
Contact:  http://www.newsandsentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1648

WORKPLACE DRUG USE HARDER TO STOP

If an employer suspects that people are using illegal drugs in the 
workplace, does the employer have a right to use surveillance technology to 
catch lawbreakers who may be endangering their co-workers by getting high 
on the job?

According to the National Labor Relations Board and the D.C. Circuit U.S. 
Court of Appeals, no. The facts in a case decided by the court are these: 
Anheuser-Busch suspected that some brewery workers were using an elevator 
control room to smoke marijuana during work hours, so the company installed 
a tiny surveillance camera.

Workers were caught in the act, on film. Anheuser-Busch removed the camera, 
then informed union shop leaders of the surveillance and fired five brewery 
workers.

The union complained to the NLRB, claiming that the company was obliged 
under federal labor laws to inform the union of the surveillance in advance.

Such a move would risk word leaking to the offenders, who might then move 
their illicit activity to another spot. But the NLRB suspended common sense 
and ruled against the company, which then lost again in court.

The NLRB was within its rights to interpret the law as it did, according to 
the court, because the use of surveillance cameras supposedly is a 
condition of terms of employment subject to collective bargaining.

That's a nutty interpretation of the law, but the NLRB has been granted 
regulatory deference on the matter by the courts.

If the state of the law is such that employers cannot take prudent steps to 
eradicate illegal drug use from their workplaces, then the law ought to 
change. Many members of Congress have at one time or another claimed their 
willingness to fight the scourge of illegal drug use.

Congress now ought to act to clarify the law to allow employers to take 
measures to protect their own workplaces and employees from illegal drug users.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom