NCJ Number
113167
Editor(s)
R L Hogler
Date Published
1987
Length
209 pages
Annotation
These 11 papers provide a broad overview of the labor-management issues related to drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace, with emphasis on the employer's concerns regarding safety, productivity, and disciplinary authority and the employee's concerns regarding privacy, individual autonomy, and fair treatment.
Abstract
A historical examination of the use of alcohol in the workplace emphasizes that drinking has been associated with work in the United States from prerevolutionary times and was often expected by the worker and accepted by the employer. The next five articles examine the respective interests of employers and employees as they are affected by efforts to control substance abuse. They focus on the threat posed by drugs and alcohol, employer strategies for assisting addicted workers, drug testing, employee assistance programs, and the medical disease approach to alcoholism. Further papers analyze the legal environment of substance abuse and employer discipline, focusing on statutory law, common law, and arbitral protections that may apply to individual situations. The final paper traces the development of negotiated contractual procedures for dealing with drug and alcohol abuse and shows how this approach can provide a workable adjustment of the respective concerns. Tables, notes, chapter references, and appendix presenting the Federal court decision in Capua v. City of Plainfield, involving drug testing.