Drug screening nixed for some Buncombe County jobs; random testing gone altogether
ASHEVILLE - In an effort to make the workplace more equitable, Buncombe County has tweaked its personnel policy and, among other changes, barred random drug testing and some pre-hire screening.
Though Buncombe will continue to drug test potential employees who will be driving for the job, the new policy removes pre-hire testing and random drug testing.
"Research indicates that drug testing disproportionately affects people of color," according to strategy and innovation director Rafael Baptista.
This updated personnel ordinance is set to go into effect June 4.
Baptista, who presented the policy alterations at a May 19 Board of Commissioners meeting ahead of a unanimous vote, said the county hasn't randomly tested employees in several years.
Though it is moving to a less-restrictive approach, Buncombe County will continue to perform tests based on "reasonable suspicion" and post-accident with injury and/or property damage situations, according to the updated policy.
Related: Buncombe County hired its 1st behavioral health manager. What is she going to do?
The "suspicion" circumstance means someone in the workforce would report another employee as "under the influence," Baptista said.
"Once that's done, human resources is called in, they check in with the employee, they certify that they believe the employee might be under the influence, and then we do send them to a certified lab to either get a breathalyzer test if we assume alcohol or a drug test if we're suspecting drugs," Baptista said.
Cautions will be taken to protect that employee's privacy.
The move toward a less stringent policy on screening comes as the county tries to make its hiring and worker retention more equitable.
Major national employers such as Amazon and Walmart are moving away from random testing and applicant screening, Baptista said.
Laws are changing, too, he noted. Marijuana legislation across the nation has legalized the substance: 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized it completely, and 37 and the District of Columbia have legalized it for medical use.
Marijuana is still illegal in North Carolina, one of 13 states that has not legalized it for medical or recreational use, though there is pending legislation that would make it legal for medical purposes.
New screening and testing policies also could help Buncombe keep pace with hiring, something it struggled to do in the past year.
Buncombe not only wants to foster a more equitable workplace, but increase its applicant pool in what Baptista called a "difficult labor market" while maintaining a drug-free workplace.
According to a study from American Addiction Centers of 50 large metro areas across the nation, the top employment industry requiring pre-hire drug testing is government.
Government was third in top U.S. employment industries requiring regular drug screening.
Drug screening changes are only part of numerous tweaks to the county's personnel rules.
The altered ordinance includes changes to the grant-funded positions policy, the benefits policy, the leave policy, the supplemental pay policy and the drug-free workplace policy.
"The personnel ordinance is outdated, it's long, it conflicts with itself," Baptista told commissioners May 19.
"The other day I asked myself the question, As a full-time of Buncombe County, am I eligible for health insurance per the personnel ordinance?'" Baptista said. " Thirty-six references and seven pages later, I am relatively sure that I am eligible for health insurance."
If that was difficult for him to understand, Baptista added, "that's a challenge."
These alterations are part of an ongoing effort to update and clean up the personnel rules. Staff hit a first set of milestones in Ffall 2021 when they approved changes on cost of living, conflict of interest, vehicle usage and other policies.
Come winter 2022, the county will tackle another set of alterations, including:
Recruitment and selection policy
Employee relations policy
Position management policy
At that point, the ordinance will likely be finalized.
Buncombe's proposed 2023 budget of nearly $400 million includes a batch of 61 new positions. The county has 23 open positions.
Due to a recent compensation study, many employees will see more than just changes to personnel policy: They'll also be getting raises.
Related: Buncombe Schools salaries so low, district facing an employee-loss 'tsunami,' study says
Human resources has asked the county to raise pay for everyone making less than $32,900.
Additionally, 72% of those making between $33,000-$42,900, 48% of those making between $43,000-$54,000, 51% of those making between $55,000-$69,900 and 48% of those making at least $70,000 are slated for raises. These ranges are based on federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission state and local government information reporting.
According to data provided by the county in December, nearly 43% of employees make less than $50,000.
Human Resources Director Sharon Burke said 649 employees are slated for some sort of raise, and 550 would have no change to their pay.
Buncombe has upped its base pay to a $17-per-hour minimum, — 70 cents below the minimum wage recommended by Just Economics in a January report — and staff noted May 19 that it has seen the greatest staffing losses among its lowest wage earners.
Related: Buncombe 2020 overdose death rate among NC's highest. An incoming $16M is supposed to help
Andrew Jones is Buncombe County government and health care reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Drug screening nixed for some Buncombe County jobs, effective soon
