Bus Drivers File Suit Over Drug Testing

A lawsuit seeking to prevent San Diego Transit Corp. from ordering bus drivers to submit to random drug tests has been filed by the drivers union.

The suit, filed in Superior Court, was transferred to U.S. District Court on Thursday. Transit officials say the testing is mandated by the federal government.

In the action, San Diego Bus Drivers Local 1309 contends that the random urine tests ordered by San Diego Transit, “even when accurate, are incapable of showing on-duty use of illicit drugs, impairment from such drugs or patterns of use or abuse.”

Additionally, because the employees are to be tested at random, San Diego Transit will lack “probable cause, reasonable suspicion or any belief whatsoever that the selected employees are using or are under the influence of drugs.”

Further, the testing would violate employees’ privacy, the union claims, by requiring disclosure of medical and personal information, such as pregnancy and non-job-related conditions.

Roger Snoble, general manager of San Diego Transit, said federal law requires random testing of airline, railroad and bus employees in safety-sensitive jobs.

“This isn’t our idea,” he said. “We have to comply with the mandate” issued by the Urban Mass Transit Administration, a division of the Department of Transportation.

Snoble said San Diego Transit already requires pre-employment drug screening and that the state Department of Motor Vehicles requires bus drivers to submit to a drug test when they certify their operator’s license every two years.

Testing began Jan. 2, he said, and, while no employee has refused to take the test, anyone who did refuse could be subject to disciplinary action.

No employees have tested positive, Snoble said.

Richard D. Prochazka, the union’s attorney, said the federal regulations permit a waiver of the random-testing regulation. He said waivers have been granted in Connecticut because the random-testing regulation conflicted with the state’s already existing occupational drug-testing law, and in Washington because that state’s constitution forbids unwarranted invasion of privacy.

He said the California Constitution also forbids invasion of privacy. The drivers’ suit cites a 1972 amendment to the constitution that “was intended, in part, to prevent ‘government snooping and data collecting.’ ”

Prochazka said the union approached management in December and asked that San Diego Transit apply for a waiver to the testing but that the company did not do so.

The union represents about 629 employees, including a variety of clerks. Only those clerks holding operators’ licenses will be required to submit to the random tests.