Bert Randall, President of Franklin & Prokopik, is a trial attorney concentrating in complex matters involving employment, tort liability and business litigation. He regularly represents companies in state and federal courts, and before state and federal administrative agencies.
Jim Hartstein is a third generation insurance professional, with more than 10 years in the industry, he has the knowledge and experience to give his clients honest and straightforward advice in a professional and understanding manner. He knows that insurance can be confusing and frustrating for the consumer.
Jim: What about post-accident and drug tests? I mean, that’s normally something that you know, some clients are for some clients maybe don’t necessarily want to open Pandora’s Box. Where do you sort of fall down on that?
Bert: I think it’s really industry-specific, you know, so you’ve got certain highly regulated Industries. For instance, if you’ve got DOT drivers, right? It’s set out and laid out for you and you’re gonna have to do it. Other types of particularly safety sensitive positions, you know, you’re working whether it’s heavy equipment whether maybe is non-CDL driving but there’s driving involved or other types of safety-sensitive type issues. It becomes much more important, not necessarily require much more important. I’ve often timed jokes when I’ve been on on panels with like national general counsel for like Hospitality organizations, restaurants, and they sit back and look at me and go, if you think we’re operating in Colorado part of it’s jurisdiction, not only industry but jurisdiction too. If they sit back and go, if you think I’m gonna drug test my bar staff and my weight staff in Colorado, you’re out of your mind, you wouldn’t be able to keep the doors open.
Jim: Yeah, I’ve heard that. Yeah, so it’s industry-specific, and it’s based on jurisdiction as well.
Bert: I think so. Yeah, and just kind of a philosophical viewpoint as management. You know, you’ve got different options and where you want to assess your risk. Where do you think it’s valuable? And in other parts, you know that that leads to the big kind of marijuana debate. Do include that as part of a drug testing protocol, or do you do withhold that? A lot of it is kind of philosophical.
Jim: So it sounds like you have options, but as far as I know, one of the golden rules of HR is what you do for one, you do for all, right? That’s sort of the the guide post, right? So it’s sort of like, let’s set the framework and then just make sure that those same rules are applicable to everybody. Is that fair?
Bert: Yeah, as long as you’ve got a legitimate business, so the one part that you would want to maybe segregate is when it comes to the safety sense of the position. So, for instance, if you have clerical staff, like, you know, we’re not going to have them do it drug test at the same time. I don’t think you want your, you know, CFO or controller high or drunk when they’re performing their job. They’re still a lot of reasons that maybe we don’t want to post-accident drug tests, or it’s less important than a forklift operator.
Jim: Makes sense.
Bert: So that is one area that you could probably compartmentalize, but otherwise, within those areas, absolutely what’s good for one is good for all.
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