Amendments to the Act on Sober Upbringing and Counteracting Alcoholism went into force on 1 July 2011. Some of the changes concern entities authorized to initiate and conduct testing of the sobriety of an employee who is not permitted to work because of a justified suspicion that he showed up for work intoxicated or consumed alcohol during working time.
Previously, in such circumstances, only the employee could demand a test of his own sobriety, and the regulations did not identify the entities that could conduct such testing.
Now the director of the workplace or another person appointed by the director may also demand a sobriety test of an employee. This change thus enables the employer to conduct a sobriety test without the consent of the employee, which was not possible under prior law.
