Subchapter XX-C. Mandatory Drug and Alcohol Testing for Certain Employees Who Serve Children.
§ 1–620.31. Definitions.
For the purposes of this subchapter, the term:
(1) “Applicant” means any person who has filed any written employment application forms to work as a District employee, or has been tentatively selected for employment.
(2) “Child” means an individual 12 years of age and under.
(3) “District employee” means a person employed by the District of Columbia government.
(4) “Drug” means an unlawful drug and does not include over-the-counter prescription medications.
(5) “Employee” means any person employed in a position for which he or she is paid for services on any basis.
(6) “Post-accident employee” means an employee of the District of Columbia, who, while on duty, is involved in a vehicular or other type of accident resulting in personal injury or property damage, or both, in which the cause of the accident could reasonably be believed to have been the result, in whole or in part, from the use of drugs or alcohol on the part of the employee.
(7) “Probable cause” or “reasonable suspicion” means a reasonable belief by a supervisor that an employee in a safety-sensitive position is under the influence of an illegal drug or alcohol to the extent that the employee’s ability to perform his or her job is impaired.
(8) “Random testing” means drug or alcohol testing conducted on an District employee in a safety-sensitive position at an unspecified time for purposes of determining whether any District employee subject to drug or alcohol testing has used drugs or alcohol and, as a result, is unable to satisfactorily perform his or her employment duties.
(9) “Reasonable suspicion referral” means referral of an employee in a safety-sensitive position for testing by the District for drug or alcohol use.
(10) Repealed.
(11) “Youth” means an individual between 13 and 17 years of age, inclusive.
§ 1–620.32. Employee testing.
(a) The following individuals shall be tested by the District government for drug and alcohol use:
(1) Applicants for employment in positions designated as safety-sensitive;
(2) Those District employees who have had a reasonable suspicion referral; and
(3) Post-accident District employees, as soon as reasonably possible after the accident.
(b) The District shall subject District employees in positions designated as safety-sensitive to random testing, unless a District agency has additional requirements for drug and alcohol testing of its employees, in which case the stricter requirements shall apply.
(c) Supervisors shall be trained in substance abuse recognition and shall receive a second opinion from another supervisor prior to making a reasonable suspicion referral.
(d) District employees shall be given written notice that the District is implementing a drug and alcohol testing program at least 30 days in advance of implementation of the program. Upon receipt of a written notice of the program, each employee shall be given one opportunity to seek treatment, if he or she has a drug or alcohol problem.
(e) No employee may be tested under this subchapter for drug or alcohol use prior to receiving the notice required by subsection (d) of this section.
(f) Following the issuance of the 30-day written notice required by subsection (d) of this section, the Mayor shall procure a testing vendor and testing shall be implemented as described in this subchapter.
Any District government employee who operates a motor vehicle in the performance of his or her employment within the District of Columbia shall be deemed to have given his or her consent, subject to the conditions in this subchapter, to the testing of the employee’s urine or breath for the purpose of determining drug or alcohol content whenever a supervisor has probable cause or a police officer arrests such person for a violation of the law and has reasonable grounds to believe such person to have been operating or in physical control of a motor vehicle within the District while that person is intoxicated as defined by § 50-2206.01(9), or while under the influence of an intoxicating liquor or any drug or combination thereof, or while that person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle is impaired by the consumption of intoxicating liquor.
§ 1–620.34. Testing methodology.
(a) Testing shall be performed by an outside contractor at a laboratory certified by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to perform job-related drug and alcohol forensic testing.
(b) For random testing of District employees, the contractor shall, at a location designated by the District to collect urine specimens on-site, split each sample and perform enzyme-multiplied-immunossay technique (“EMIT”) testing on one sample and store the split of that sample. Any positive EMIT test shall be then confirmed by the contractor, using the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (“GCMS”) methodology.
(c) Any District employee found to have a confirmed positive urinalysis shall be notified of the result. The employee may then authorize that the stored sample be sent to another HHS-certified laboratory of his or her choice, at his or her expense, for a confirmation, using the GCMS testing method.
(d) Reasonable suspicion and post-accident employee testing shall follow the same procedures set forth in subsections (a) through (c) of this section. In such cases, the employee shall be escorted by a supervisor to the contractor’s test site for specimen collection or a breathalyser.
(e) A breathalyser shall be deemed positive by the District’s testing contractor if the contractor determines that 1 milliliter of the employee’s breath (consisting of substantially alveolar air) contains .38 micrograms or more of alcohol.
(f) Prior to testing, a physician must sit down with the employee and ask what medications he or she might have been taking to rule out any false positives in the drug screening results.
§ 1–620.35. Procedure and employee impact.
(a) A drug and alcohol testing policy, including the notice required by § 1-620.32(d), shall be issued at least 30 days in advance of implementing the drug and alcohol program to inform District employees of the requirements of the program and to allow each employee one opportunity to seek treatment, if he or she has a drug or alcohol problem. Thereafter, any confirmed positive drug test results, positive breathalyser test, or a refusal to submit to a drug test or breathalyser shall be grounds for termination of employment in accordance with this chapter.
(b) The testing program shall be implemented as a single program.
(c) The results of a random test conducted pursuant to this subchapter shall not be turned over to any law enforcement agency without the employee’s written consent.
(d) An applicant may be offered employment contingent upon receipt of a satisfactory drug testing result, and may begin working in a position that is not designated as safety-sensitive prior to receiving the results.
§ 1–620.36. Coverage of private contractual providers and private licensed providers.
Each private provider that contracts with the District of Columbia to provide employees to work in positions that are designated as safety-sensitive and each private entity licensed by the District government that has employees who work in positions that are designated as safety-sensitive shall establish mandatory drug and alcohol testing policies and procedures that are consistent with the requirements of this subchapter; provided, that a private provider or entity is not required to comply with subchapter XX-E of this chapter.
