Confidentiality, and its limits, should be stated with respect to referral or self-referral, treatment and record keeping.
Furthermore, the organisation should state when it will contact the Police in instances of illegal drug use. The CIPD recommend a case-by-case approach taking into account the seriousness of an offence (if it involved criminal conduct such as violence or supply of drugs), whether it happened during working hours and if a third party was hurt as a result. If the police find no case to answer, an employee could claim that there employer has breached trust and so employers should be careful before calling the police. However, illegal drug misuse is nevertheless a serious offence and if an employer can prove they had reasonable grounds to call the police, even if nothing is subsequently found, the CIPD maintain that ‘it should be able to successfully defend such a claim.’(12)
If an employee undertakes a course of treatment, the employer must nominate person to be the point of contact with the treatment agency, such as a line manager or occupational health officer. An employer can be told certain details, but not those that breach patient-doctor confidentiality.
Record-keeping of this personal information must be compliant with the Data Protection Act, 1998.
Employment of those with prior substance misuse problems
Policies may also contain guidance regarding the employment of those with previous problems of drug or alcohol misuse. There are certain criteria that may be used in this situation, the most important of which is whether the applicant is competent to do the job.(13)
Education and Training
An organisation should state that it plans to provide education and training to raise awareness of the problem of drug and alcohol misuse, and the effective and fair implementation of the policy.
Employee Assistance Programme
An organisation can state how help is provided to employees.
Sources of Help and Support
Employees should be provided with sources of support and advice if they are experiencing problems with substance misuse. Examples of these are included under External Links.
References used in this section: What Do We Put in a Policy?
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