RTD Drug Tests Blocked Temporarily

A Superior Court judge Monday temporarily blocked implementation of a key provision of the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s tough new anti-drug use policy.

Judge Robert Weil, ruling in a suit filed by the transit district’s mechanics union, ordered the RTD to stop drug testing based on tardiness or absenteeism that occurred prior to Dec. 15--the date the new policy went into effect. Weil’s order, which stands until a Jan. 12 hearing on the drug program, apparently applies to all bus drivers and other employee groups, as well as mechanics, an RTD spokesman said.

The bus drivers’ union was not a party to the lawsuit, but a spokesman said Monday that it now expects to join the mechanics’ challenge to the drug testing policy. “We’ve been upset about the (testing based on) attendance all along,” said Goldie Norton, the drivers’ union press spokesman. “As long as they’re in court, we felt we might as well join them.”

Test Candidates

When the new policy took effect Dec. 15, RTD employees selected on the basis of their previous attendance records were ordered to undergo drug testing. The new program called for testing of employees who were absent five days in a 180-day period or tardy five days in a 90-day period.

In the first two days of the program, 140 employees were ordered to undergo testing. Results of the tests--and more current testing figures--were not available Monday afternoon.

Some RTD employees, however, had complained that the absence standard was too rigid. And last week, just three days after the program began, RTD General Manager John Dyer announced that the testing standard would be relaxed to apply to those who were absent seven days in a 180-day period.

Remainder of Policy

Weil’s order does not affect the remainder of the drug testing policy, which requires tests for employees who are involved in fights, display suspicious behavior or are involved in accidents resulting in injuries or $1,000 in property damage. If Weil’s order is made permanent, it means the district would be able to order drug tests based on attendance, but only from Dec. 15 forward.

The attendance-based testing provision had been hailed by RTD officials as a major strengthening of its anti-drug policy, which was adopted in August, 1985. The toughened policy was ordered after it was reported that of the bus drivers tested in the first year, 11% were found to have used drugs.

In recent months, 4% to 6% of the drivers tested were found to have used illegal drugs.