When hiring faculty and staff, two vital "safety" questions arise (in addition, of course, to the question of their skills and "fit" with the mission of the school).
1. Will they place fellow employees and students in danger?
2. Can they serve as positive role models for students?
When it comes to drug screening applicants and established faculty and staff, schools have four options:
a. Don't conduct any job-related screening
b. Conduct pre-employment screening of candidates
c. Conduct post-employment screening of employees
d. Both b and c
Special Note: Drug screening should only be conducted by a qualified vendor selected by the school, due to the myriad of ever-changing legal and procedural requirements attendant to drug screening.
If your school has decided to screen employees, then you have several options as to when drug screening should be required.
- On an annual basis
- After an accident
- Upon "reasonable suspicion"
- As a condition for reinstatement from a drug-related personal leave of absence or FMLA leave
As our HR consultant, Michael Brisciana, answered last year in his Q&A section of the HR e-letter, the key issue with carrying out drug testing safely is to avoid discrimination. As they put it in the HR world, you need to treat all "similarly situated" employees the same. If you want to test teachers, you must test all teachers.
Last year, one of our readers asked if requiring drug screening of their school's maintenance department was discriminatory. The school had experienced some issues with employees in that department before and wanted to implement drug testing. Michael replied, as long as they were treating all employees in that department the same, then the action was likely to be deemed legal and valid—provided that it was carried out in a reasonable manner, according to the school's policies, and directly handled by a vendor with expert knowledge of pertinent regulations and best practices in the drug screening industry.
Michael also urged the school to look at its views on privacy and trust before deciding whether or not to implement drug testing. Does drug screening correspond with your school's culture and values? How does this interact with your school's commitment to ensuring the safety of all students, employees, and community members?
If your school screens candidates on a pre-employment basis, please note that drug screening is considered a medical exam for ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) purposes, and is only permitted on a "post-offer" basis. You cannot require drug screening prior to offering the position to the candidate. Offers made before testing should be made contingent on successful completion of screening.
