Prescription Drug Use and Abuse in the Workplace: Navigating The Safety Impact and Your Legal and Obligational Risks

Why Should You Attend:

Almost every individual will receive a prescription for some ailment at some time in their livelihood. Sometimes, a prescription may be for a substance that can become addictive if not used as prescribed. Even over the counter medications can be abused (cough medicine). Drug abuse and addiction costs employers millions of dollars each year in lost productivity and revenue. Surprisingly however, the main cost is not covering addiction treatment. It’s the cost of covering the injuries, health problems, disability and workers comp claims as well as the absences and lost productivity. If you do not have policies and procedures in place to address drug use – even use of legally prescribed drugs—you are at risk. At the same time, however, you need to be aware of laws that may have something to say on your ability to tackle this increasing dilemma.

Most people understand that an employer has a legitimate interest in employees who report to work with more medicine in their system than their doctor prescribed. What about employees taking their medication as prescribed who nonetheless may present a health or safety risk? What questions you ask? This issue alone implicates the ADA, and FMLA among other laws.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Prescription drugs that most commonly impair an employee’s ability to perform his/her position.
• What questions can and can’t you ask (and when) without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Accommodation requirements under the ADA for employees taking legally prescribed medications.
• Leave requirements under ADA and FMLA for employees to stabilize on medications;
• Leave requirements under FMLA and ADA for employees needing rehab for prescription drug abuse;
• Disciplinary concerns for employees with diagnosed disabilities who refuse to take their medication.
• Fourth Amendment concerns when inquiring about prescription drug use.
• Privacy issues when inquiring about prescription drug use
• Testing for prescription drug use

Who Will Benefit:

• Human resource professionals
• Risk managers
• Benefits personnel
• Management at all levels, including senior management;
• CEO’s
• Business Owners
• Safety personnel/officers

Janette Levey Frisch
Employment and HR Attorney, The Emplawyerologist Firm

Janette Levey Frisch is an attorney with more than 20 years’ legal experience. She works with employers on most employment law issues to ensure that employers are in the best position possible to avoid litigation, audits, employee relations problems, and the attendant, often exorbitant costs. She authors the firm’s weekly blog, where she discusses issues impacting employers today. She has written articles on many different employment law issues for many publications, including EEO Insight, Staffing Industry Review, @Law, and Chief Legal Officer.

Ms. Frisch has also spoken and trained on topics, such as criminal background checks in the hiring process, joint employment, severance arrangements, pre-employment screening among many others. She is licensed in New Jersey and New York. In addition, she serves as a Legal Wellness Professional to employers outside New Jersey and New York on almost all federal employment law issues, to enable employees to address workplace challenges before they escalate to litigation or costly audits.

Ms. Frisch is also a contributor to the recently released book, “Hiring Greatness: How to Recruit Your Dream Team and Crush the Competition,” published by John Wiley and Sons, and authored by David E. Perry and Mark J. Haluska.

Janette serves as a Task Force Member of the Institute for Workplace Violence Prevention, an interdisciplinary think tank, dedicated to providing holistic, proactive solutions to employers serious about promoting a safe workplace.

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