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Drug testing employees? Make sure you’ve got a policy in place John Salter / Thursday, April 6, 2017 SmartCompany You suspect one of your staff members is regularly turning up to work affected by their drug intake. Or there’s been an incident at work, and an investigation has uncovered that the staff member involved was impaired by alcohol at the time. What do you do? For many SMEs, their initial reaction will be to discipline and perhaps dismiss the employee. But before you go ahead and make any rash decisions, you need to understand exactly where you stand legally if you want to minimise the chance that an unfair dismissal or other relevant claim is brought against you. The case of the Sydney ferry driver One of the most notorious unfair dismissal cases in Australia involving drug and alcohol use was that of a Sydney ferry captain who tested positive to cannabis in 2013, after being called in to work on a day off to cover an unexpected absen

NSW Police overlooked scientific advice about hair sample and sacked drug-tested sergeant Eamonn Duff  March 12 2017  A single strand of hair that destroyed the life of a long-serving Sydney police officer has the potential to influence the future of not just the entire NSW Police Force but all workplaces across NSW. Sergeant George Zisopoulos insists he has been wrongly dismissed due to one of his hair follicles which returned a positive drug test reading. But while the state's top cop, Commissioner Andrew Scipione, has determined that, on the "balance of probabilities", the officer knowingly consumed drugs, scientific opinion suggests otherwise. Leading forensic experts have cast doubts over the decision to sack Sergeant Zisopoulos, concluding there is "no evidence" the substances found on his hair were ingested and that the minute readings may have been caused by "external contamination". ergeant Zisopoulos, who is the first NSW

What Are the Penalties for ‘Drugged Driving’ in Australia? Joe Wilson - Leafly Mobile drug testing, or MDT, is on the rise in Australia. Police in all states and territories can now require drivers to provide a saliva sample to be tested for cannabis and amphetamines. In the country’s most populous state, New South Wales, authorities boast that by 2017 there will be three times the number of tests on the state’s roads. At the same time, a number of “drugged driving” campaigns have drawn criticism and stoked confusion. To help clarify, this article sets out penalties that accompany a positive roadside drug test in various Australian states. Note that all penalties are for first-time offenses. State of Queensland (QLD) Police in Queensland are able to test drivers for cannabis in conjunction with so-called random breath testing (RBT) or as a standalone test. The presence of any cannabis whatsoever in a sample is an offense, carrying a maximum penalty of

Drug tests made mandatory for parents of at-risk kids, Opposition says policy ignores real issues By Matt Watson   Parents of at-risk children will face mandatory random drug testing under a new policy introduced by the Queensland Government, but the Opposition has said the policy misses the mark. Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman said the drug crystal meth, or ice, was putting too many children at risk. She said parents who entered into an intervention with parental agreement (IPA) would be forced to undergo mandatory drug testing. Under the IPAs, parents developed a safety plan with child safety officers, Ms Fentiman said. "This is a zero-tolerance measure that puts the safety of children first and foremost," she said. "If the information suggests there is ice use and the children are unsafe, we will remove the children. "It will be up to the discretion of the child safety officer and it will depend on whether or not there's a his

Toll awarded $18,000 from drug-test faking employee by Victoria Bruce HC Online Logistics giant Toll Holdings has scored a win from the Fair Work Commission as a former employee has been ordered to pay the company $18,000 after falsifying drug test results to support an unfair dismissal claim. The commissioner ordered the former Toll Holdings employee, who was fired in June 2015 after a positive drug test, to pay the company $18,000 in compensation, AFR reported. The employee had tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine in his system after a workplace drug test, yet before his dismissal the worker told Toll urine sample tested by a doctor had showed up negative to the drugs. But at subsequent proceedings to hear the worker's unfair dismissal claim, the doctor gave evidence that the test had been "manipulated", and the original test showed the former employee had tested positive.   Read the full article here. Comment: It

Good article by Fay Calderone Partner DIBBSBARKER Fast Fact Alcohol and other drugs cost Australian workplaces an estimated $6bn per year in lost productivity. Recent research has estimated that 2.5 million days are lost annually due to alcohol and other drug use. Persons Conducting Business or Undertaking (PCBUs) have an onerous duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and others in their workplace under WHS laws. This includes the provision of a safe work environment, information, instruction, training and supervision in relation to WHS that extends to being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at work. Workers also have an obligation under WHS laws to protect their own health safety and that of others in the workplace. As such, showing up to work under the influence may be a breach by the worker of their WHS obligations as it is of the PCBU that failed to prevent it. It is also considered "serious miscond

Hazy Drug Driving Advice On Australian Roads                                   HuffPost Australia  |  By Eoin Blackwel Very interesting article by Eoin Blackwell as follows: If you’re a little dazed and confused about Random Drug Testing on Australia's roadsides, it’s probably not just because of what you’re smoking. RDTs are being rolled out across the country at an increasing rate, with as many as 200,000 drivers to be tested in Victoria and 100,000 in NSW by 2017. Prompted by a recent NSW court case, where a Lismore man was acquitted after being pinged nine days after having cannabis , The Huffington Post Australia decided to investigate the state of play in each state. Cannabis is, af