Peru won't charge employees who dawdle in taking drug urine tests
Fines started at $15
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Posted: 11/02/2012
Last Updated:
201 days ago
PERU, Ind. - A drug testing firm has flushed plans to charge city employees who take too long on urine tests.
The Peru Board of Works on Thursday approved a new policy that would fine city employees $15 if they could not produce a urine sample within 15 minutes, $30 after an hour and $45 after two hours.
In August, the city received a letter from Indiana Testing Inc., the drug testing company Peru uses for its screenings, outlining the charges.
Mayor Jim Walker said the city wouldn't pay the fee, the individual worker would.
"What if we had 20 or 30 a year that did this? It's not a high cost, but we have to watch every dollar we spend, and I don't think we are being unreasonable," Walker said, defending the city's decision to pass the ITI charges on to the workers.
On Friday afternoon, Indiana Testing notified Peru officials that the company was dropping its proposed fees.
RTV6 reached out to American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk, who said that a policy that penalizes employees for not producing a sample in a certain amount of time could be wrought with legal problems.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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