Arizona Laws 23-493.06. Employer protection from litigation
A. No cause of action is or may be established for any person against an employer who has established a policy and initiated a testing program in accordance with this article for any of the following:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 23-493.06
- Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Alcohol: means ethanol, isopropanol or methanol. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- Current use of any drug: means drug use that has occurred recently enough to justify an employer's reasonable belief that involvement with drugs is ongoing. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- Drugs: means any substance considered unlawful under the schedules of the controlled substances section of the comprehensive drug abuse prevention and control act of 1970, as amended, (P. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- Employee: means any person in the service of an employer. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- Employer: means this state, a political subdivision of this state or any person, firm, company, corporation, labor organization, employment agency or joint labor-management committee, including any public utility, transit district or special taxing district organized pursuant to Title 48, Chapter 17 or 22, that has one or more full-time employees employed in the same business, or in or about the same establishment, under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- Good faith: means reasonable reliance on fact, or that which is held out to be factual, without the intent to deceive or be deceived and without reckless or malicious disregard for the truth. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- Impairment: means symptoms that a prospective employee or employee while working may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol that may decrease or lessen the employee's performance of the duties or tasks of the employee's job position, including symptoms of the employee's speech, walking, standing, physical dexterity, agility, coordination, actions, movement, demeanor, appearance, clothing, odor, irrational or unusual behavior, negligence or carelessness in operating equipment, machinery or production or manufacturing processes, disregard for the safety of the employee or others, involvement in an accident that results in serious damage to equipment, machinery or property, disruption of a production or manufacturing process, any injury to the employee or others or other symptoms causing a reasonable suspicion of the use of drugs or alcohol. See Arizona Laws 23-493
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Safety-sensitive position: means any job designated by an employer as a safety-sensitive position or any job that includes tasks or duties that the employer in good faith believes could affect the safety or health of the employee performing the task or others, including any of the following:
(a) Operating a motor vehicle, other vehicle, equipment, machinery or power tools. See Arizona Laws 23-493
1. Actions in good faith based on the results of a positive drug test or alcohol impairment test.
2. Failure to test for drugs or alcohol impairment or failure to test for a specific drug or any other controlled substance.
3. Failure to test or, if tested, failure to detect any specific drug or other substance, any medical condition or any mental, emotional or psychological disorder or condition.
4. Termination or suspension of any substance abuse prevention or testing program or policy.
5. Actions based on the employer’s good faith belief that an employee used or possessed any drug while on the employer’s premises or during the hours of employment.
6. Actions based on the employer’s good faith belief that an employee had an impairment while working while on the employer’s premises or during hours of employment.
7. Actions to exclude an employee from performing a safety-sensitive position, including reassigning the employee to another position or placing an employee on paid or unpaid leave, based on the employer’s good faith belief that the employee is engaged in the current use of any drug, whether legal, prescribed by a physician or otherwise, if the drug could cause an impairment or otherwise decrease or lessen the employee’s job performance or ability to perform the employee’s job duties. The belief regarding the effects of the drug may be based on information including results of a test for the use of alcohol or drugs, warning labels or other printed materials that accompany instructions for use of the drug, statements by the employee, information from a physician or pharmacist, information from reputable reference sources in print or on the internet or other information the employer in good faith believes to be reliable.
B. The actions of an employer protected by this section include implementing, monitoring or measures to assess, supervise or control the job performance of the employee, reassignment of an employee to a different position or job duties or suspension or termination of employment.