Yesterday’s Advisor featured Attorney Allan H. Weitzman’s tips for making sure your handbook doesn’t create contracts; today, his suggestions for drug and gun policies, plus an introduction to the all-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com®. Weitzman, a partner in the Boca Raton office of law firm Proskauer Rose LLP, offered his tips at the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition in Chicago.
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Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace
There are great benefits of drug-free workplace policies, says Weitzman, including:
- Decreases in absenteeism, turnover, downtime, accidents, and thefts; and
- Increased productivity and overall employee morale.
So, a drug and alcohol testing policy should be part of the company’s drug-free workplace policy.
Generally, Weitzman says, employers may test applicants and employees in the following circumstances (subject to state and local laws):
- During a yearly physical;
- Prior to transfers or promotions;
- Prior to being placed in positions involving security, safety, or money;
- After an accident;
- Where applicant or employee used drugs in the past;
- After treatment;
- Based on reasonable suspicion; or
- On a random basis.
Include a detailed description of the drug testing procedures in your policy, Weitzman advises.
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Guns in the Workplace
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) requires employers to provide workplaces that are “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm” to their employees, says Weitzman.
Again, he says, before implementing a ban on weapons, check state and local laws. Many states have enacted laws that prohibit employers from enforcing any workplace policy that would prevent their employees from storing guns in their cars on a company lot.
Weapons Policy Drafting Tips
If an employer decides to ban weapons in the workplace, says Weitzman, the policy should:
- Define terms such as “weapon,” “firearm,” and “possess.”
- Clearly state the policy’s purpose.
- State that, despite state and local law provisions that allow the carrying of concealed weapons, the employer has elected to prohibit weapons on its property.
- Clarify whether the policy applies only to employees or to all persons entering the employer’s premises.
- Explain which areas are covered.
In addition, says Weitzman, the guns-at-work policy should contain:
- A description of the employer’s policy on workplace searches;
- A statement that employees have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their personal work areas;
- Disciplinary consequences for violating the policy; and
- The requirement for a signed, written acknowledgment of the policy.
Guns and drugs and handbooks—In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Like FMLA intermittent leave, overtime hassles, ADA accommodation, and then on top of that, whatever the agencies and courts throw in your way.
You need a go-to resource, and our editors recommend the “everything-HR-in-one website,” HR.BLR.com®. As an example of what you will find, here are some policy recommendations concerning e-mail, excerpted from a sample policy on the website:
Privacy. The director of information services can override any individual password and thus has access to all e-mail messages in order to ensure compliance with company policy. This means that employees do not have an expectation of privacy in their company e-mail or any other information stored or accessed on company computers.
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E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.
Solicitation. In line with our general policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.
We should point out that this is just one of hundreds of sample policies on the site. (You’ll also find analyses of laws and issues, job descriptions, and complete training materials for hundreds of HR topics.)
You can examine the entire HR.BLR.com® program free of any cost or commitment. It’s quite remarkable—30 years of accumulated HR knowledge, tools, and skills gathered in one place and accessible at the click of a mouse.
What’s more, we’ll supply a free downloadable copy of our special report, Critical HR Recordkeeping—From Hiring to Termination, just for looking at HR.BLR.com. If you’d like to try it at absolutely no cost or obligation to continue (and get the special report, no matter what you decide), go here.