§ 1:905. Enforcement of this chapter.

A.

General. In order to enforce the prohibitions of this chapter against drugs and alcohol in the city-parish workplace, the city-parish may:

1.

Perform drug and alcohol testing of applicants for city-parish employment;

2.

Perform drug and alcohol testing and conduct searches of city-parish employees when circumstances provide reasonable, individualized suspicion of a violation of the prohibitions of this chapter;

3.

Perform drug and alcohol testing of city-parish employees following serious incidents;

4.

Perform random drug and alcohol testing of city-parish employees who occupy safety- or security-sensitive positions; and

5.

Perform drug and alcohol testing of groups of employees who occupy safety- or security-sensitive positions.

B.

Drug testing of applicants.

1.

The city-parish may require any applicant for employment to submit to a drug test and an alcohol test.

2.

The city-parish shall not employ an applicant who has tested positive on a drug test or an alcohol test conducted pursuant to this subsection. Such an applicant shall, where applicable, be considered physically unfit to perform city-parish work, within the meaning of section 3 of rule V of the Rules Governing Employees in the Classified Service of the city and the parish, as amended (Civil Service Rules).

3.

Drug testing and alcohol testing are conditions of employment by the city-parish. Therefore, any applicant who refuses to submit to a test of either type shall be denied employment with the city-parish.

C.

Reasonable suspicion.

1.

The city-parish may search the person of any employee when there exists individualized reasonable suspicion that the employee is violating the prohibitions of this chapter. This search may include a drug test and an alcohol test. In addition, the search may encompass any areas of the city-parish workplace to which the employee has access. Without limitation, the city-parish may search desks or work stations, lockers, storage areas, parking lots (not including personal vehicles parked therein), equipment bags, lunch boxes, and city-parish vehicles and other motorized equipment. Employees should have no expectation of privacy in any such places.

2.

The reasonable suspicion upon which the search is based shall be supported by specific, objective facts known or observed by a supervisor or other appropriate city-parish personnel or safety officer and reduced to writing prior to the search or test, and by any rational inferences the observer is entitled to draw from those facts based upon his or her experience.

D.

Post-incident.

1.

All city-parish employees shall report all serious incidents occurring in the city-parish workplace to their immediate supervisor, or to any city-parish representative if the immediate supervisor is unavailable, immediately and in no event later than four (4) hours of this serious incident. Any employee who fails to report an incident within the prescribed period shall be considered to have violated this chapter and shall be subject to the disciplinary action set forth in section 1:907 hereof, unless the employee is physically unable to make the report or such other extreme or extraordinary circumstances exist that justify the failure to report.

2.

Any employee whose order, action, or failure to act the city-parish determines to be, or cannot rule out as, a causative factor in a serious incident occurring in the city-parish workplace, may be required to submit to a drug test and an alcohol test.

3.

Additionally, any employee who sustains an injury in the city-parish workplace may be required to submit to a drug test and an alcohol test for purposes authorized by the Louisiana Worker's Compensation Act. When appropriate, a positive test under this subsection may also be considered a positive test for all other purposes of this chapter.

E.

Random drug testing. All city-parish employees who occupy safety- or security-sensitive positions shall be subject to random drug and alcohol testing. The selection process shall be such that for each testing occasion, every city-parish employee in the group selected for random testing has a substantially equal chance of being selected to provide a sample for testing.

F.

Group testing. The city-parish may test all safety- or security-sensitive employees, or may test any groups of such employees when circumstances establish that or provide reasonable suspicion that one (1) or more of the employees in the group has violated or is violating the provisions of this chapter. The methods for determining an appropriate group for testing under this subsection shall be defined by regulations promulgated in accordance with section 1:909 of this chapter, and the determination shall be based on a rational connection between the circumstances giving rise to the reasonable suspicion and the identification of the group of employees to be tested.

G.

Anabolic steroids. Safety- and security-sensitive employees shall be subject to reasonable suspicion testing only for anabolic steroid use under subsection C of this section.

(Ord. No. 9877, § 2, 4-27-94; Ord. No. 11774, § 1, 6-28-00; Ord. No. 12268, § 1, 3-27-02)