In January, the Iowa Court of Appeals issued two decisions relating to the state’s drug-testing statutes, which place the burden specifically on the employer to show strict compliance. Lucas Woods v. Charles Gabus Ford Inc. involves an employee who was terminated from his job for failing a drug test, a move that was challenged because a post-test notice marked “return receipt requested” was not sent to the individual. Woods also claimed that the company’s supervisory personnel did not have adequate training to supervise or administer its drug-testing program and that the notice indicating that he failed to pass the drug test did not specifically include the cost of a confirmatory drug test as required by the law. While the court dismissed the return receipt request argument, it did find a violation in failure to disclose the cost of the confirmatory test. In the second case, Tyler Dix, Jason Catell, Jim McCann and Julie Eller v. Casey General Stores Inc. and Casey’s Marketing Company, the plaintiffs were fired as the result of drug test issues. The Court evaluated Casey’s policies and practices, finding that the company substantially complied with the objectives of the statute.
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