New challenges for HR professional
As if Maine businesses didn't already have their hands full trying to find employees, along come some new challenges.
Maine's legalization of marijuana may energize parts of Maine's economy, but regulating use within the workplace is already posing headaches for senior management, the human resources department and the employment lawyers. Drug testing is becoming more commonplace.
Companies that require employees to operate heavy machinery or drive trucks have an obvious reason for keeping employees and the public safe. Of course, everyday businesses also want to ensure that operations run smoothly.
Detecting alcohol impairment is a fairly straightforward measure. Detecting marijuana impairment is entirely different. Signs of marijuana use can linger in the body for up to a month. So companies are grappling with the fair and legal ways to monitor the situation.
As Maureen Milliken reports, drug testing policy in Maine has long been a difficult topic. Restrictions mean that of 45,000 employers in the state, only about 500 have state-approved drug-testing policies, according to the Maine Department of Labor.
Employers are in a tight spot.
“Obviously, employers are concerned when an employee who comes to work impaired by any substance, but marijuana raises concern because there is no reliable test that equates a level of THC with impairment. So, one level in one employee may make them a real risk to their own safety, as well as for fellow employees and even customers, yet that same level might not create impairment in another individual,” Michael Bourque, senior vice president of external affairs at MEMIC, the Portland-based worker's comp insurer. “Employers want to know where the guardrails are so that they can act appropriately to keep people safe. There's a lot of consternation about that.”
Given that Maine's drug testing law requires employers with more than 20 workers to have an employee assistance program in place, HR professionals are busy preparing.
“Everybody's nervous,” Matt Marks, CEO of Associated General Contractors of Maine, tells Mainebiz. “It's not like anything we've dealt with before.”
Maine hospitals rate high on safety
Maine has the safest hospitals in the nation, according to the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade report, which is the only national health care rating focused on errors, accidents and infections.
The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers to drive quality, safety and transparency in the U.S. health system.
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