TRUCKER SUES FIRM OVER DRUG RESULTS

Trinity Man Says Test Found Cocaine, But It Was Wrong

When Michael Ellis Alred gave a urine sample in July as required by
his employers in a routine random drug screening, he didn't foresee
the trouble it would cause him.

Alred is suing his former employer, Southeastern Freight Lines Inc.,
for at least $100,000 in compensatory and punitive damages on an
allegation of slander.

The company's screening test showed that Alred, 33, of Trinity,
tested positive for cocaine use. According to his lawsuit, Alred was
shocked at the results. As a result of the failed drug test, he
contends, he was fired on July 18 after 7 1/2 years as a driver with
the freight company. "I didn't think they would do me like that since
I had worked for them for so long," he said.

The manager at the company's Decatur office where Alred worked said
Wednesday he could not comment and referred questions to the corporate
office in Lexington, S.C. Corporate officials did not return repeated
telephone calls.

After learning of the drug test result, Alred told his immediate
bosses there was a mistake, said his lawyer, Mark Dutton of Moulton.
They didn't listen to him, Dutton said.

Then Alred hired two independent laboratories in Decatur to analyze
samples of his blood and hair follicles, Dutton said. The analyses
were negative for cocaine, speed, narcotics, and marijuana, he said.

The independent drug tests cost Alred $110, but it verified that the
company's drug test was incorrect, Dutton said.

"I wrote the company a certified letter in August, but Southeastern
has never responded," he said. Alred "has to get this cleared up
before he can get a job as a driver anywhere else." Dutton filed the
case last week in Madison County Circuit Court.

Southeastern has also opposed Alred's claim for state unemployment
compensation checks, Dutton said. In the meantime, Dutton said, his
client is doing odd jobs and depending on support from his family.

Clerks in the court said Wednesday that the notice of the lawsuit was
returned to the courthouse marked as "unable to serve" at the Decatur
location on Swancott Road. Southeastern has a work force of about
6,000 employees and hauls freight in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and
South Carolina.