BUSINESSES HELPED IN FIGHT VS. DRUG ABUSE

BULLHEAD CITY - It's easy for a small business owner to feel
overwhelmed by drug-abusing employees.

There is help for the business owner, and it's free. The assistance
is provided by the non-profit organization "Drugs Don't Work in
Arizona" (DDWA).

DDWA's Advisory Board includes such Arizona notables as Senator Jon
Kyl and sports franchise owner Jerry Colangelo.

A seven-hour workshop was hosted Wednesday by DDWA training
facilitator Tom Childers and held in the Bullhead Area Chamber of
Commerce auditorium.

The United States has the largest illegal drug-using population in
the world, according to Childers.

Foreign sources are not the problem, he said, since the U.S. leads
the world in the manufacture of LSD, PCP, and meth. The U.S. is the
number one world supplier for marijuana.

With 6 percent of the world's population, the U.S. makes up ? percent
of the world's market for dope," Childers said.

Only 20 percent of illegal drugs are consumed by hard-core addicts,
he said. The casual or recreational drug user makes up the other 80 percent.

Add abuse of legal substances, such as prescription drugs and alcohol
and it gets worse, Childers said.

Seven of ten of those users are employed and there are more
drug-using workers in Arizona than in places like Los Angeles and New
York, he said.

"You'd be surprised how many drug users you have working for you,"
Childers told the dozen or so small business owners.

Childers pointed out how drug abusers cost employers money - that
they have almost double the average absentee rate. They use 3 times
more health insurance benefits. They cost an employer an average of
$7,000 annually, so, if a business has 10 drug abusers, they'll lose
$70,000 a year.

The good news is, "The State of Arizona stands behind you and
supports you," Childers said, based on laws passed by the legislature
in the 1990s.

A 1994 Arizona law gives businesses legal protection against
drug-abusing workers, if the employers comply with the law.

It provides them with protection from civil liability when taking
action based on positive drug test results.

The law even protects employers who take action against workers based
on false positives, unless the employer "knew or clearly should have
known that the test result was in error and ignored the true test result."

Businesses may not be liable for defamation, libel or slander on the
basis of the disclosure of test results if they follow the letter of the law.

Under the law, employees who test positive or who refuse to undergo
testing, and who are discharged as a result, have engaged in "willful
misconduct," which generally disqualifies the worker from receiving
unemployment compensation benefits.

Under legislation passed in 1999, workmen's compensation was denied
to people injured on the job due to their drug abuse.

That law was ruled unconstitutional in 2005, since the Arizona
constitution guarantees workmen's comp, according to Childers.

A ballot measure should fix that problem in 2007, he said.

With laws making it easier to fire drug abusers, denying them
unemployment benefits and, in the future, workman's comp, "the power
of the paycheck" is convincing many drug users to give up their
habit, according to Childers.

He emphasized that employers must closely adhere to the law. "You're
not breaking the law necessarily if you go outside of it, but you
don't get the benefits (protections)."

The law allows drug testing for several reasons. Employers can give a
prospective job applicant a pre-employment test, but the legislation
does not permit testing for alcohol use. That's forbidden by the
Americans With Disabilities Act.

Businesses can test for a "reasonable suspicion" - that an employee
may be affected by drug or alcohol use and it may adversely affect the job.

Post-accident testing is permitted. If a forklift operator struck
another worker, for example, the employer could legally test both the
operator and the victim.

And the law allows for random testing for "the maintenance of safety,
productivity, quality or security," which is "a loophole and meant to
be one," Childers said.

Many businesses shy away from random testing because they think it
will kill employee morale, he said.

In regards to drug testing, employers can terminate workers for three
reasons - a positive test, refusal to submit to a test or refusal to
cooperate with the testing process, by ingesting a substance to try
to alter the test results.

The employer's drug policy must be put in writing and is required to
include all compensated employees, from the janitor to the CEO.

Businesses are given desecration to test some employees more often,
like assembly line workers heavy equipment operators and truck drivers.

Employers can only use certified labs for testing and must take steps
to prevent misidentification of or tampering with specimens.

Test subjects must have an opportunity to provide information
relevant to the test.

Employers need to provide training for supervisors and employee
education. Supervisors are taught how to keep written records of what
they see and how to speak to a potential drug abuser to address the
problem without provoking a lawsuit.

Childers closed the class with an illustration of just how costly a
drug-abusing worker can be. An airline employee, who had a habit of
sharing a "joint" with her boyfriend at lunch, forgot to perform a simple task.

That mistake threw the airline's reservation system into chaos for
three days, costing them $19 million.

More information is available from DDWA by calling 800-380-DDWA (3392).