Management Publishes New Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy

The Postal Service has finally published a new Drug and Alcohol Testing policy, Management Instruction PO-720-2010-1 [PDF], which became effective Dec. 31, 2009. We first announced an agreement with management on a new drug testing policy in March, but, not surprisingly, our counterparts in management dragged their feet and delayed publishing the policy.

The revised policy requires management to offer a Last Chance Agreement to employees who fail a drug test for the first time. The Last Chance Agreement will stipulate that the employee must complete a rehabilitation program and pass another drug test before returning to duty.

The new policy preserves all the rights we have previously enjoyed. The Management Instruction (MI) is not the exact document that we agreed to earlier this year, but it has all the features we originally agreed on.

It is important to note the implementation date: Dec. 31, 2009. That means the MI is enforceable for anyone facing removal as a result of a first-offense positive drug test this year.