DRUG-TESTING POLICY ADOPTED

WILKESBORO - Following the lead of private businesses and other county
governments, Wilkes County now has a policy for testing its employees for
drug abuse.

Wilkes County commissioners voted unanimously last week to enact a drug
testing policy for all new employees and those involved in car accidents or
employees that are suspected of drug abuse.

County manager Gary Page said this is the first drug testing policy Wilkes
has enacted, following some of its private business counterparts that have
already made new hire drug testing standard procedure.

The county first started looking at the possibility of a drug testing
policy in August after the county's insurer, Selective Insurance, of
Charlotte, requested a policy be put in place to prevent insurance rates
from increasing.

"The purpose of this policy is to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free
workplace and to provide procedures for conducting screening of job
applicants and employees for the use of illegal drugs and the improper use
of prescription drugs," the policy states. "While it is inappropriate for
the county to intrude into the private lives of its employees, employees
are expected and required to be in a condition to safely and effectively
perform their duties throughout the workday."

Page said an increase in insurance claims from all its clients prompted the
county's insurer to request drug testing.

"Since Sept. 11 and various increases in workers compensation insurance,
our insurance carrier is pressuring us to enact a drug and alcohol testing
policy," he said. "This policy is derived from looking at four other
counties' policies. It is a pretty in-depth and technical policy.

"Drug testing is reasonably commonplace," he said. "Prior to now, the only
drug testing we did was on law enforcement. This is for all other county
employees like clerical and EMS and anyone else that works for the county.
They should be drug tested also."

The drug testing policy will be effective Jan. 15.

"This is probably a sound decision to delete random drug testing (from the
policy)," County Attorney Tony Triplett said. "It is pretty thorough."

The policy outlines that the drug testing will examine a person's bodily
fluids for the presence of amphetamines, barbiturates, cannabinoids,
cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine and any other drugs.

"The drug testing is required of our workers compensation insurance so that
we have complete coverage," Page said. "The idea is to screen anyone with a
substance abuse problem from coming to work for the county to begin with."

The policy requires that newly hired people will voluntarily submit
themselves to drug testing before they begin work as a condition of hire.

"At this time, we are not going to do random drug testing," Page said. "It
is something that still has some legal ramifications. For now, this is just
new employee and accident screening."

Existing employees can also be tested if there is reasonable suspicion of
drug abuse. The policy defines reasonable suspicion as "slurred speech, the
odor of the drug, inability to walk in a straight line, an accident
resulting in property damage or injury, physical or verbal altercations and
unusual behavior among other things."

Existing employees can also be tested if they are involved in a car
accident that results in a vehicle being towed from the scene. A county
employee who performed maintenance on a vehicle that was involved in an
accident can also be drug tested.

An employee with a safety sensitive position is not allowed to show a drug
or alcohol concentration of more than 0.00. Other employees are allowed to
have a tolerance of up to 0.04. Safety sensitive positions are jobs like
garage workers, emergency workers and others where people's lives may
depend on the employee's job.

"We can reprimand or terminate employees that test positive," Page said.
"We can reprimand and provide counsel if they are not terminated."

The decision of punishment is left up to the employee's supervisor.

An employee not fired for having a positive drug test will receive a
five-day suspension without pay, 180-day performance probation and be
referred to a substance abuse professional. If the employee is fired for a
positive drug test, they can be considered for re-hire in two years.

If an employee tests positive for drugs or alcohol and is dismissed from
work for a period of time, they must also submit to a drug test once they
return to work. They must also submit to a follow-up test within the first
12 months of the return to work.

"This is to screen out potential bad employees and to screen out employees
that could cause a liability to the county as a result of a workers
compensation claim being paid out," Page said.