The numbers are staggering: Drug abuse is estimated to cost U.S. employers $276 billion a year, and three-fourths, or 76 percent, of people with a drug or alcohol problem are employed.
Employees coping with drug and alcohol abuse are less productive and more likely to waste time at work by taking long lunch breaks, leaving early or sleeping on the job. They have increased health care expenses — costing their employers twice as much as other employees, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. And they are three and a half times more likely to be involved in a workplace accident.
But replacing a worker costs 25 percent to 200 percent of their annual compensation, not to mention the loss of institutional knowledge, service continuity and co-worker productivity and morale that often coincides with employee turnover, the administration said.
Drug testing and implementing a company Employee Assistance Program (known as EAPs) are two ways employers control costs related to substance abuse.
Amendments to the Oklahoma Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Act aim to give employers more latitude in drug testing employees and reduce their cost of unemployment insurance by denying claims to former workers who were let go for failing a drug test.
The legislation took effect in November. Former state Rep. Dan Sullivan, one of the bill’s authors, said the idea was to streamline the drug testing process for employers and make it easier to manage.
“We wanted to make sure we protected employees … but also make it simpler for employers to implement,” he said.
Previously, employers could subject an individual worker to drug testing if the employer had reasonable suspicion. The amendments implemented “for cause” testing, expanding the circumstances leading to a drug test, including negative performance patterns and excessive or unexplained absenteeism or tardiness.
Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, who co-authored the bill, said drug testing employees is a “huge safety issue.”