Employee Who Tests Positive for Meth Can’t Sue Company that Created Workplace Testing Arrangement

  Case: After his hair sample workplace drug test came back positive for methamphetamine, a construction worker was assigned to “Inactive” status, meaning that none of the employers in the drug testing consortium arrangement would allow him onto its work sites. The worker contended that the positive test was due to over-the-counter medications and sued the company that ran the testing arrangement for not requiring or requesting testing for d/l isomers. But the Louisiana federal court tossed the case without a trial.   Significance: The worker basically sued the wrong defendant. To be guilty of negligence, a person must owe a duty of care to the plaintiff. However, no such duty between the testing company and the worker in carrying out the testing existed in this case. The testing company merely created and administered the testing program; it didn’t collect the samples, perform the tests or perform medical review of positive results. So, the worker didn’t have a legally valid claim for negligence against it. [Thibodeaux v. DISA Global Sols., Inc., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 204953, 2020 WL 6479540]