CITY COMMITTEE PROPOSES BROADENING ELIGIBILITY FOR DRUG, ALCOHOL TESTING

Any Charleston employee can be asked to take a drug test if their
supervisors have a reasonable suspicion they are under the influence of
drugs or alcohol on the job, the city employee committee decided Thursday.
The committee met Thursday afternoon for the first time since Mayor Danny
Jones took office to approve changes to the city's policy on testing
employees for drugs and alcohol.

Under the current policy, Charleston can randomly test employees who need a
commercial driver's license for their job, or people who have jobs that
require them to do something that could injure themselves or others, like
work with dangerous chemicals or tools or carry a gun. These employees also
submit to a drug test before they are hired.

The new policy would allow the city's human resources department to test any
employee who is "reasonably suspected" of being under the influence of drugs
or alcohol while on the job.

Supervisors were trained a few years ago to learn the signs and symptoms of
alcohol and drug use, City Attorney Kim Weber said. Two trained supervisors
must also agree on the symptoms before they can order employees to be
tested, according to the policy. If an employee refuses to take the test,
they can lose their job.

Councilman Mike Clowser questioned if department heads know enough about the
symptoms of drug and alcohol use to suspect an employee. "I think I'm
satisfied that they know enough to make that judgment," Weber said. Fire
Chief Grant Gunnoe also questioned another part of the policy that requires
employees who miss 30 days of work to take a drug test four days before they
return to work. It takes four days to get the test results. Gunnoe said a
few employees in his department took off a month during hunting season last
fall, and had to cut their vacations short to return to Charleston and take
the drug test. One employee missed his test, and was not allowed to come
back to work for a few days, Gunnoe said. Gunnoe also wanted the city to pay
the employee for the time they lost on their vacation to take the drug test.

Councilwoman Ditty Markham was surprised that employees are allowed to take
that much vacation at one time, and suggested supervisors limit the length
of employees' vacations to avoid the conflict.

City manager David Molgaard suggested Gunnoe and other supervisors make it a
requirement that employees who want to take a long vacation submit to the
drug test four days before returning to work. If it will conflict with their
vacation plans, they should take a shorter vacation, he said. The committee
approved changes to the drug policy that will require all employees to be
tested if there is reasonable suspicion they are under the influence of
drugs or alcohol. The changes must also be approved by the full City
Council.