LIHU‘E — An anonymous letter from a county employee takes aim at what is described as marijuana use during the workday by employees who never seem to come up for random urinalysis testing. The County of Kaua‘i disputes the claim
LIHU‘E — An anonymous letter from a county employee takes aim at what is described as marijuana use during the workday by employees who never seem to come up for random urinalysis testing.
The County of Kaua‘i disputes the claim as testing is handled by a third-part contractor, with random selection conducted in accordance to law and union regulations.
The letter alleges that employees known to be drug-free come up for drug testing more often in comparison to other work sites. The trend led the employee to believe that drug testing does not seem random or handled according to policy.
The letter claims that appropriate random testing is conducted at the Hanapepe base yard, where it is known that people have been disciplined, suspended and fired for testing positive on a drug test. However, it alleges that workers smoking marijuana on the job do not come up for random testing.
The process for post-employment drug testing is the same for the Kekaha Landfill and Hanapepe Baseyard CDL, UPW non-CDL and HGEA safety sensitive workers, according to county spokesperson Beth Tokioka.
The random list of employees in the aforementioned categories are generated by the county’s independent contractor who performs the drug testing, she added. The contractor provides the county with numbers that are pulled since they do not have the list of employees.
“Only the Department of Personnel Services holds the list of names with the correlating numbers,” Tokioka said. “After DPS receives the numbers from the independent contractor, DPS notifies the Department of Public Works as to which employees at the Hanapepe Baseyard and Kekaha Landfill are subject to the random drug testing.”
Tokioka said that all departments strive to follow state and federal rules regarding drug testing as required by law. The collective bargaining agreements of the employee unions provide drug testing under various circumstances, such as random testing, for cause, and in some instances mandatory testing.
“The county is committed to a safe and drug free work place and employs all available methods to ensure the safety of our employees and the public,” Tokioka added.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
