Listening 12. Liability risks

Ms. Brewer: Good morning, Mrs. Howard, Mr. Howard. Please come in.

Mrs. Howard: Good morning, Ms Brewer.

Mr. Howard: Hello.

Ms. Brewer: Please have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?

Mrs. Howard: No, thanks, I'm fine.

Mr. Howard: Not for me, thanks.

Ms Brewer: Right, then. On the phone, you told me that you wanted to speak to me about drug testing at your company. Maybe you could tell me something about what's going on at your company at the moment. How's business?

Mrs. Howard: Not bad, we can't complain, can we, John?

Mr. Howard: No, no, business is fine. Actually the demand for cleaning services and facility management is growing in the area. But we're here to ask for your advice - we think we've got a drug problem among our employees...

Mrs. Howard:... and we're considering starting drug testing, some sort of programme that all the employees have to participate in. We just can't tolerate the current situation. There are at least three of the younger men, window cleaners, who we're sure, really sure, are taking drugs, even while they're on the job, and one of the supervisors, who we... we think is also.. '

Mr. Howard: It's just that we think it's dangerous.

Mrs. Howard:.. and it's bad for our reputation,

Ms Brewer: Right. If I could just jump in here and summarise what you've been telling me. You suspect that several of your employees abuse drugs and so you're contemplating implementing a drug-testing programme, is that correct? And you'd like me to inform you about the legality of such a course of action.

Mr. Howard: Yeah, that's right.

Ms Brewer: Weil, first of all, I should say that the legal position on drug testing at work isn't at all clear at present. There's no direct legislation, and important legal questions depend on the interpretation of numerous provisions in health and safety, employment, human rights and data-protection law. This is a very tricky area, and one would have to proceed very carefully.

Mrs. Howard: What do you mean?

Ms Brewer: Well, if you were to subject your employees to drug testing, and you found out that a worker abused illegal substances and then terminated his employment, there's a good chance that you could be sued for violating the employee's right to privacy.

Mr. Howard: But what about my rights? Such as my right as an employer to maintain a drug-free workplace?

Mrs. Howard: Exactly!

Ms Brewer: I agree with you, Mr. Howard, but we have to look at what the law says. Generally speaking, the courts in our jurisdiction have only tended to rule in favour of the employer in those cases where the dismissed employee has been engaged in safety-sensitive work, And where the employer had implemented a long-term workplace safety policy that included not only drug testing, but also the opportunity for the workers to get treatment for their drug problems.

Mr. Howard: But that could take ages! We can't risk waiting until they've had a chance to kick their drug habits!

Mrs. Howard: John's right - we need to act on this now.

Ms Brewer: I'm afraid I have to disagree with you both. In my opinion, you risk more by acting hastily, by making a knee-jerk reaction to the problem. You risk costly litigation that you'd most likely lose,

Mrs. Howard: That may be true, but we can't just sit back and do nothing.

Mr. Howard: I couldn't agree more! There must be something we can do to respond to the situation right now. After all, these three workers are window cleaners, and there's most definitely a safety issue involved. We're responsible for the safety of our workers and for the safety of others.

Ms Brewer: I see your point, and you're absolutely right - you do bear responsibility for the safety of others. Let me suggest something you could do immediately: you could consider re-assigning the workers in question to different tasks, to jobs that are less safety-sensitive. And then you could launch a new workplace safety initiative, concentrating on drug and alcohol abuse, with employee meetings, memos and the like informing your workers of the new policy.

Mrs. Howard: That's not a bad idea...

Listening for Task 6 from Supplementary Materials for Self-study: