Drug-Test Plan for New State Workers Detailed

The state Personnel Board unveiled a comprehensive drug-testing program for all prospective state employees Tuesday and promptly drew the strong opposition of employee unions.

The proposed policy would require urine tests for all state peace officer candidates and those applying for “sensitive” state jobs, such as doctor, nurse or heavy-equipment operator where impaired performance could create a health or safety hazard.

It would require every state Civil Service applicant, regardless of the job they are applying for, to fill out a questionnaire saying they are drug free.

The penalty for those who test positive for peace officer jobs would be lifetime disqualification from the law enforcement jobs they are seeking. Refusal to take the test would also lead to automatic disqualification.

Those testing positive for sensitive jobs would immediately be disqualified but would be allowed to take the test again.

Individuals who voluntarily admit to illegal drug use would be subject to disqualification by a medical authority but could reapply for future Civil Service jobs if disqualified.

“We’re searching for something that would help us achieve a drug-free workplace,” board President Claire W. Burgener said.

Further Hearings

The program, which would apply only to state employees, was developed at the request of Gov. George Deukmejian. The regulations will be reviewed by the Office of Administrative Law and then be returned to the Personnel Board for further hearings and final adoption.

Officials of the attorney general’s office, the controller’s office, the California Highway Patrol, State Police, Youth Authority and Department of Corrections all voiced approval of the program.

Law enforcement officials said drug testing is necessary to prevent on-the-job problems, as well as to screen out people who “committed felonies” or who could be considered “felons” just by their simple possession or use of illegal drugs.

James Mossman, director of the state Department of Personnel Administration, said drug testing “will discourage drug users from seeking employment” with the state.

Currently the Highway Patrol and Department of Corrections screen applicants during tests and verbal interviews. As many as 20% of the applicants for those jobs are currently being disqualified because they admit to having used hard drugs in the past, officials said.

Union officials said they fully support anti-drug programs but argued that such screening programs are working and there is no evidence for the need of stronger measures.

“We are addressing here today a solution to a problem that has yet to be defined, that has yet to be documented,” said Donald Turko of the California State Employees Assn. “We have yet to document an abuse problem in any one department.”

Turko said, “We feel this is just another case of political efforts to take advantage of public employees” by creating a political issue at their expense.

Turko warned that implementation of the pre-employment drug-testing program as proposed Tuesday would invite a lawsuit by the CSEA.

John Sikora, representing the California Assn. of Professional Scientists and the Assn. of California State Attorneys and Administrative Law Judges, said collective-bargaining groups should be made part of the discussions about what jobs will be classified as “sensitive positions.”

He said the program would violate collective-bargaining agreements because it would apply to state workers seeking to transfer into peace officer or other sensitive jobs, in addition to new employees.

Union officials complained that drug tests were still unreliable. They also said that such a program was “premature” until courts decided whether such programs violate public employee protections under the U.S. Constitution. Most frequently cited is the 4th Amendment, which protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

The state does not currently have a mandatory drug-testing program, but it can order drug tests for any state employee who is considered acting under the influence.

Under the new program, screening would be conducted to detect abuse of amphetamine or methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, heroin and other opiates and phencyclidine (PCP).

A Personnel Board staff report said absenteeism rates for drug abusers are 16 times higher than for non-abusers and that drug abusers have nearly four times as many accidents and file five times as many worker’s compensation claims.