NCJ Number
154334
Date Published
1990
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Federal agencies have established employee drug testing programs in response to the President's Executive Order of September 15, 1985; employee representative groups have challenged nearly all the agency plans in whole or in part.
Abstract
The Executive Order was part of the Drug Free America Program and required each executive branch agency to establish random drug testing for employees in sensitive positions. The guidelines on the personnel aspects of the testing program were issued in November 1986, and the final mandatory scientific and technical guidelines for the collection of specimens and the laboratory analysis of the specimens were published in April 1988. The Department of Justice is responsible for providing legal assistance to the agencies and for responding to lawsuits brought in connection with testing of Federal employees for the presence of drugs. Several lawsuits have been brought relating to adverse action in the private and non-Federal public sectors. Federal employee labor organizations joined in filing suit to block the implementation of the random testing in the Federal sector under the Executive Order. Chronology, list of Congressional hearings and reports, and 12 references