March 14, 2010 admin 5 comments

When one of our employees fail a drug screen our boss fires them and then tells everyone why. Could we be sued for slander?
The employee in question had a false positive. She’s taking a prescription that can yield a false positive. She has a note from the pharmacist stating that. But the boss is still telling people she’s a pot head.

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Written by Discipulo legis, quis cogitat? about 2 years ago.

No, slander is uttering a statement which the declarant knows to be false and which has the tendency to defame. Truth is an absolute defense to slander. There is no slander when you tell the truth. The truth must be based on fact, however, not opinion. If the person was fired because, “I think he is an incompetent person who probably was the one who stole from us and I don’t want a thief around here,” then the truth of belief is no defense.

Most states specify that drug screens are not medical examinations. Because of this, there is no HIPAA violation either. The boss’ statements are fine
Written by KB about 2 years ago.

Slander no because technically it is true. But it is illegal to tell of any medical results, yes he can sue.
Written by PJ about 2 years ago.

They are required to keep the drug test results confidential.

I don’t think they have to keep the reason they fired someone confidential.

So, they can say you got fired for failing a drug test (that is company policy at work), but they can’t give the results – like what drugs were in your system or the levels.
Written by yetti about 2 years ago.

The first answer about says it all. They do not have to if they don’t want to. However, it does depend on how the companies drug policy reads. If the written company policy states that all dreg screen result will be kept confidencial with the exception of say HR and the supervisor, and it is not, then you might have a case…if it does not state that results are not to be let out, then there is really nothing that can be done if a supervisor is telling the reason why. they can’t say what drugs were found, or how much, but they can say, “he failed a drug test”. The easy thing to do, if the company says you will be fired if you get caught, and you don’t want fired…don’t do the drugs.
Written by Kathi S about 2 years ago.

A note from a pharmacist does not make it a false positive. The only person who can make that determination is the medical review officer who is a specialist who reviews all positive drug screens. Unless they declared it was based on a medication she was taking it is just a positive. If she was fired her claim was not supported by the MRO so yes he can tell anyone he likes why she was fired.

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