Getting Testy

There's this from a Berkeley, Calif., remodeler: “I had a good foreman about 10 years ago. I knew and trusted him. I set him up on an important job. He had an 8 a.m. appointment and didn't show up. The clients said they'd like to work with us, but not with [that foreman]. The erratic behavior was the first warning sign. I had no inkling he had a drinking problem.”

And this from Rapid City, S.D.:

“Maybe two or three times in my 15 years of business have I had people show up reeking of alcohol. We have a good company culture and open-book management. If anyone comes into the company [who's not doing what they're supposed to], that threatens other [employees] — [and they] will bring it to my attention quickly.”

And this from Hawley, Pa.:

“I hired an estimator I had known for a long time. He had been sober for a couple of years so I gave him a shot. Things worked out well for a while. Then he relapsed. In addition to alcoholism he was bipolar; things got bad quickly. His lack of attention started showing up in job reports and we lost a lot of money.”

And this from Birmingham, Ala.:

“After five months of employment [one of my lead carpenters] was frequently late — overslept or was sick. He wasn't productive in the field, would go to the store and forget some of the items he was to get. We told him he needed to get a drug test [one day] at lunch time. He made an excuse and delayed until the next morning. Even with the wait, he failed. He tested positive for heroin and marijuana. Since we [have] a zero-tolerance drug policy, it was easy to let him go with no discussion. I always test up-front now and test randomly.”

While every remodeler probably has similar anecdotes, there are no hard statistics announcing a substance abuse problem in the remodeling industry, specifically. But the construction industry's issues with it have been documented and widely reported. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 2007 annual report (www.samhsa.gov), which gathered statistics for four years, revealed:

• Construction workers had the highest prevalence of past-month heavy alcohol use — 17.8% — followed by workers in installation, maintenance, and repair — 14.7%; and
• Among full-time workers aged 18 to 64, the highest rates of past-month heavy alcohol use were found in construction — 15.9%.

Construction firms, often larger than remodeling companies, hire dozens of crews and day laborers; owners may not be intimately connected to employees. With liability an important issue, many states have passed legislation requiring a zero-tolerance substance abuse policy among construction firms hired for public works projects. So these larger firms have been creating substance abuse policies and following through on drug testing for years. Remodeling companies face the same liability issues, including injury, accidents, and theft — plus concerns about client relations — as well as lost time and chronic tardiness.

Yet remodelers, especially in one- or two-person shops, sometimes have a lackadaisical attitude toward drugs and alcohol. One Pomona, Calif., remodeler responded via e-mail: “Testing employees is [not] the answer. All that does is create animosity amongst the crew towards the management, and those tests are easily circumvented. So, I am straight up about my position on this subject: If you have to use to make it through the day, I don't want to know about it.”

But with statistics from the National Association of Drug Free Workplaces (NADFW) showing that on-site drug use costs employers $100 billion; that 65% of all work-related accidents are the direct result of substance abuse; and that 85% of drug abusers steal from their workplaces, remodelers — in particular those with several employees or those with assets such as trucks and equipment — must take the issue seriously.

Because remodeling company owners usually have more direct contact with their employees, substance abuse is often recognized more quickly — especially if there's a substance abuse policy and/or drug testing in place — and the employee appropriately dealt with. On the other hand, like many small-company owners, remodelers are proud that their businesses are “like family.” (In many cases they are family.) They sometimes feel the need to take care of — and, as a result, often unwittingly enable — an employee who has a substance abuse problem. There's no winner in that case — not the employee, not the owner, and not the bottom line.

“I had a carpenter who was a top performer,” says Jerry Liu, owner of D.G. Liu Contractor, in Dickerson, Md. “He cut a blazing swath with profit and customer satisfaction. But then it was like turning a switch. He disappeared for a week. His family didn't know where he was. Then he called as if he were a different person and wanted to come back at a reduced rate.” A close friend who was a police detective told Liu that the employee was a known substance abuser and that Liu shouldn't have that person or anyone he associated with working for his company. Liu let the man go and says he learned his lesson.

“In the [Washington] D.C. area, every third client has a law degree,” says Liu, who put a written drug policy in place soon after the carpenter incident. “I have to protect against putting the wrong person in someone's home.” Now Liu tests when an employee is hired and randomly tests all employees.

Yet the Berkeley, Calif., remodeler previously quoted isn't interested in documenting a policy or confronting people. “You're heading for a nightmare. If I'm a terminated employee with paper I have to sign, now I have something to discuss with a lawyer who may ask, ‘Did they intimidate you into signing it?” It's great for lawyers but, on a practical level, it's not good.”

D.S. Berenson, a northern Virginia-based attorney specializing in construction law (and a columnist for REMODELING), has heard that argument before. “Any policy will be a negative and a problem if it is poorly written or does not comply with applicable law,” he says. “But the risk of a wrongful termination claim is a gazillion times higher with no policy to point to and no guidelines to follow.”

Some owners don't want to test because they don't want to intrude on an employee's private life or infringe upon their civil liberties, or because it will harm company morale. Some don't test because of cost — although prices have come down in recent years as more companies regularly test. The cost range for a lab-checked 10-panel (10 drugs) urine test is between $35 and $45; do-it-yourself kits are available for half that cost but are less reliable. Other tests — including hair follicle, blood screening, and oral-fluid tests (www.avitarinc.com) — are available, and costs vary. (For more information, visit www.nadfw.com.)

Other remodelers argue that because of a tight labor market they don't want to set too many barriers when hiring. “We do a background check, but we don't do a drug test on employees,” says a Baltimore-area remodeler who prefers to remain anonymous. “This industry is not the cleanest in the labor force. From a historical standpoint, you're dealing with individuals that have some vices — like we all do. In a perfect world we'd have zero tolerance for all of it. But in reality we don't suffocate employees with drug testing like corporate America does.”

Mason Hearn, owner of HomeMasons, in Manakin-Sabot, Va., says he was tempted to drop his company's substance abuse policy because “a lot of good prospective employees who learn about it become disengaged and disqualify themselves as employees.”

About 10 years ago, Hearn caught an employee on a job smoking marijuana. Then he noticed a few other employees whose lateness and accidents made him suspicious. With the help of the nonprofit Richmond Metro Coalition Against Drugs and an attorney who worked with that group (at reduced rates), Hearn created a policy that clearly outlines what is expected from employees, the types of testing they may face, and what disciplinary actions would be taken. (To see the policy, go here.)

All of HomeMasons' employees signed the policy documents and knew that they could be chosen at random for testing. “A couple of folks washed out pretty quickly and left the company,” says Hearn, who believes they most likely had drug problems. But since then he has had no issues. “We also get a 5% discount on workers' comp because we have this written policy. And we tout the policy when we're selling ourselves to our customers. They like to know that people building their projects are trustworthy and clear-headed.”

Most employers requiring drug screening opt for random urine testing. This can be done on everyone in the company or on a single class of workers, for example, those who use dangerous equipment or who handle bills. “Many employers have a lottery system, using the last four digits of a Social Security number and picking out two or three numbers monthly,” says George Ramos, managing partner with Diversified Risk Management, which does employee background and drug screening through its Employers Choice Online division. To keep morale up, Ramos suggests rewarding employees who test negative, not just taking actions against those who test positive.

One thing to be aware of is that symptoms of alcoholism may be similar to those of diabetes. And alcoholism, now considered a disease, is a protected class. You need to be careful of accusing someone of consuming alcohol on company time or property. It's important to have a policy that states you can test someone for cause, such as abnormal attendance, involvement in an accident, or gross misconduct that might cause you concern for their safety or the safety of others. “Look at the results of a test and determine if an employee is taking prescription drugs, alcohol, or other, more serious drugs,” Ramos says. “Make sure you get your facts straight before you sit down and address the issue with the employee.”

Just because you're keeping a clean house doesn't mean your trade partners are — and you're still liable on the jobsite. Paul Zuch, owner of Capital Improvements, in Dallas, was a National Association of the Remodeling Industry chapter president when he saw a presentation from a company that does worker verification and background checks.

At the time, there had been a lot of media coverage about the ease with which sex offenders and drug and alcohol users could get into consumers' homes. The company suggested that remodelers have a drug policy spelled out for trade partners in their contract. Zuch thought it was a good idea. He did background checks on his employees and sent out a letter to his trade partners saying that if they wanted to work with Capital Improvements they would have to wear ID badges and undergo background checks. “About 50% of my trade base said, ‘If that's your policy, we're not going to enforce this with our people and I guess we won't do business with you,'” Zuch says. “I was shocked at the response.” Although he couldn't enforce it among his trade contractors, Zuch can and does enforce a policy in his own company.

According to Berenson, a remodeling company can legally require that subcontractors it works with do drug testing and/or have a substance abuse policy. He cautions, though, that some states prohibit or restrict mandatory testing. “Any policy should stress that [testing] is required to protect customers and other workers,” he says. Also, having trade partners sign a policy might have an impact on an attorney's ability to defend the contractor as a 1099 worker. Ultimately, the remodeling company owner is responsible if a sub is working on behalf of that remodeling company when a drug-related incident occurs. “But if a sub is a 1099 and the contractor has no reason to suspect a drug issue or he or she can show a drug policy has been in play, the contractor has a good defense.”

Trade partners should be part of your random testing list. And if you need to hire day laborers, it might be time to go through a temporary agency that screens and tests its candidates. “It's in [an owner's] best interests to consider raising the bar on the people he works with, and it's perfectly legal to do a background check on the other contractors he establishes relationships with,” Ramos says. As long as whatever you do is in a written policy and is shown to and signed by trade partners up-front, you should be covered if legal issues arise.

The good news: According to the SAMHSA report, about 43.8% of full-time workers reported having access at work to educational information about drug and alcohol use, 58.4% reported access to an employee assistance program, and 78.7% reported that their workplace had a policy about drug and alcohol use. “In general, people who reported past-month illicit drug use were less likely to work for employers that provided these programs. In addition, drug testing programs were fairly prevalent. A total of 48.8% of full-time workers reported that their employers conducted testing for drug use. Multivariate analysis suggests that illicit drug users are less likely to work for employers who conduct drug testing.”

Chan Cornett, whose Indianapolis roofing company, Cornett Roofing Systems, underwent a complete staff change six months after instituting a substance-abuse and testing policy in 2002, would agree. The first line in his hiring ads reads: “drug-free company.” “People in the industry laugh,” Cornett says. “We're probably only receiving 10% of the applications that other companies are, but once we hire, we retain. Roofing companies have high turnover. Usually entry level guys only last six months. Ours average about three years for entry level and foremen about five years.”

Though he has 50 employees and spends $50 per drug test — testing pre-employment, for cause, and randomly — Cornett says he can't put a number to his return on investment. He doesn't know if the company has avoided a major lawsuit by not hiring someone. But he says, “In good hires we've probably saved $2,500 per employee [by not having to hire and train replacements].”

The biggest benefits Cornett has seen are in attendance and few lost days due to accidents. “We realized, when we compared [statistics with years prior to a policy], there had been a large number of accidents that could have been tied to people being tired or under the influence — even minor incidents such as backing vehicles into things, cutting themselves, not to mention general lost time for disorganization.”

On a larger scale, at Gould Construction, a heavy- and highway-construction company in Colorado that began pre-employment, post-accident, random, and reasonable-suspicion drug testing several years ago, workers' comp claims went from 19 reported to 7 reported in the first year; 3 in year three, and zero in year four. Says human resources director Carl Metcalf, the company saved $1.5 million.

For drug-screening policies to be successful they should be accompanied by education. Employee assistance programs are available for those who need help dealing with addictions. Although employers are not required to have a three-strikes rule or to reinstate any employee (in fact, recidivism rates are high), a good policy would direct employees to seek help. Hearn has a “last-chance agreement” document that he uses at his discretion. It outlines the conditions for being reinstated as an employee. In 10 years it's been used just once.

Drug and alcohol addiction will never be eliminated, but within your company you can create a culture that leaves little room for abuse. “I don't think anybody in our company would tolerate another employee misperforming,” Liu says. “Bonuses are tied to performance, and if anyone's going to drag them down, [employees are] going to get pretty cranky about it.”

For your business — for the industry itself to grow and thrive — substance abuse policies should be the norm. Excessive accidents, chronic tardiness, and erratic behavior indicate problems that can't be ignored for your employees' and for your clients' sakes. Cornett believes the tide is beginning to turn: “The reality is that there are workers tired of this. They don't want to be on the other end of the scaffolding with someone who's impaired.”

Web Extras

Here are more resources relating to drug screening.
This form is used only at the remodeling company owner's discretion.
Last Chance Agreement
Substance Abuse Policy