{"id":141413,"date":"2025-03-18T10:18:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T10:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/iowa-supreme-court-grants-further-review-in-important-drug-testing-case\/"},"modified":"2025-03-18T10:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T10:18:22","slug":"iowa-supreme-court-grants-further-review-in-important-drug-testing-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413","title":{"rendered":"Iowa Supreme Court Grants Further Review in Important Drug-Testing Case"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Last week, the Supreme Court granted further review in Dix v. Casey\u2019s General Stores, Inc.<\/em><\/a> (18-1464), a case under Iowa\u2019s drug-testing statute (which covers alcohol testing too).\u00a0 In Dix<\/em>, the Iowa Court of Appeals held among other things that two-light duty workers weren\u2019t in \u201csafety-sensitive positions\u201d and that the statute\u2019s immunity protects employers only against claims based on third-party conduct.\u00a0 Casey\u2019s seeks further review of both rulings (plus one more).<\/p>\n

In Dix<\/em>, Casey\u2019s randomly drug tested workers from a pool of employees it had determined were in \u201csafety-sensitive positions\u201d\u2014a statutorily-defined term parroted in Casey\u2019s policy.\u00a0 Before testing, Casey\u2019s determined that all warehouse employees were in safety-sensitive positions, even those who performed \u201clight-duty assignments\u201d in an area cordoned off by a chain-link fence.\u00a0 It then used a third party to randomly select employees to test, administer the tests, and conduct a required medical review.<\/p>\n

Three plaintiffs tested positive for drugs, two of whom had light-duty jobs.\u00a0 The third\u2019s duties included operating a forklift and building pallets\u2014\u201cheavy-duty tasks.\u201d\u00a0 All three were fired, and they sued (along with one other employee).<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeals ruled that the two light-duty workers weren\u2019t in safety-sensitive positions and thus had been improperly tested.\u00a0 Under the statute, a safety-sensitive position is as relevant \u201ca job wherein an accident could cause loss of human life, serious bodily injury, or significant property or environmental damage.\u201d\u00a0 Casey\u2019s raised a few arguments on this point, among them that all warehouse workers fit this definition because forklifts \u201czip[ped] around\u201d and boxes were stacked to the ceiling, so an accident could result in harm to any warehouse worker, duties no matter.<\/p>\n

But the appeals court, like the district court, read the definition to focus on a worker\u2019s duties.\u00a0 And because the light-duty employees, unlike their heavy-duty coworker, did not have \u201ctasks where an accident could risk\u201d loss of life, injury, or damage, they did not come within the definition.\u00a0 In other words, the employees were not in safety-sensitive positions even if the \u201cgeneral warehouse environment is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its further-review application, Casey\u2019s points out that amicus curiae Iowa Association of Business and Industry had pressed for an application of the business-judgment rule. \u00a0But Casey\u2019s argues primarily that the Court of Appeals misread the definition of \u201csafety-sensitive position\u201d by ignoring the work environment.<\/p>\n

Nothing about the statute\u2019s terms compels an exclusive focus on job duties.\u00a0\u00a0 If someone asked, \u201cWhat do you do for a job?\u201d it would not be unusual to respond, \u201cI work in a factory.\u201d \u00a0Or grocery store, or restaurant, and on and on.\u00a0 In other words, an ordinary speaker would deem it acceptable to identify the type of place where she works\u2014a component of job environment\u2014instead of her job\u2019s duties.\u00a0 The circumstances in which one performs her work are often no less a part of how she conceives of her job than are its tasks.<\/p>\n

Finally, it\u2019s not at all impossible to imagine a light-duty employee under the influence of drugs or alcohol carelessly contributing to an accident with one of those zipping forklifts.\u00a0 Alcohol and drugs after all alter judgment and slow responses.\u00a0 In a generally dangerous environment, like the Casey\u2019s warehouse, even those whose duties aren\u2019t dangerous may be at risk of causing an accident.\u00a0 Casey\u2019s illustrates this point by suggesting that the Court of Appeals\u2019 reading of the statute would seemingly exclude the janitor at a nuclear power plant from the definition\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Casey\u2019s also seeks further review of the Court of Appeals\u2019 holding that the drug-testing statute\u2019s immunity provision as protects \u201cemployers only from suit arising from third-party conduct.\u201d\u00a0 As Casey\u2019s reads the immunity provision, it applies where an employer has (1) established a drug-testing policy; (2) initiated a testing program in accordance with the statute; and (3) tested or taken action in good faith.\u00a0 So Casey\u2019s argues that the immunity is broader than the Court of Appeals allowed.<\/p>\n

Besides the provision\u2019s plain terms, Casey\u2019s emphasizes the Supreme Court\u2019s general instruction to read immunity provisions broadly.\u00a0 And a broad reading of the drug-testing statute\u2019s immunity provision is also consistent, Casey\u2019s argues, with a legislative intent to protect an employer\u2019s right to a drug-free workplace.<\/p>\n

In light of these factors, Casey\u2019s reading of the statute is reasonable.\u00a0 The drug-testing statute contains many \u201csafeguards\u201d for employees.\u00a0 By immunizing all employers with policies who comply with these safeguards except those acting in bad faith, the legislature encourages the adoption and use of drug and alcohol testing procedures.\u00a0 And this in turn encourages reductions in drug and alcohol use generally.\u00a0 Immunity reduces the risk of drug and alcohol testing.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has discretion to decide one, both, or neither of these issues.\u00a0 It may have granted further review to address the third issue on which Casey\u2019s sought review.\u00a0 But if the Supreme Court does address either of these two issues, it will have important consequences for Iowa\u2019s workplaces.\u00a0 We\u2019ll follow up when the Court issues its opinion.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the Supreme Court granted further review in Dix v. Casey\u2019s General Stores, Inc. (18-1464), a case under Iowa\u2019s drug-testing statute (which covers alcohol testing too).\u00a0 In Dix, the Iowa Court of Appeals held among other things that two-light duty workers weren\u2019t in \u201csafety-sensitive positions\u201d and that the statute\u2019s immunity protects employers only against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[415,410,41941,3656,6342,14850,3749,2835],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-141413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-case","tag-court","tag-drugtesting","tag-grants","tag-important","tag-iowa","tag-review","tag-supreme"],"yoast_head":"\nIowa Supreme Court Grants Further Review in Important Drug-Testing Case - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iowa Supreme Court Grants Further Review in Important Drug-Testing Case - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, the Supreme Court granted further review in Dix v. Casey\u2019s General Stores, Inc. (18-1464), a case under Iowa\u2019s drug-testing statute (which covers alcohol testing too).\u00a0 In Dix, the Iowa Court of Appeals held among other things that two-light duty workers weren\u2019t in \u201csafety-sensitive positions\u201d and that the statute\u2019s immunity protects employers only against […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-18T10:18:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Drug_Test-260x300.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Iowa Supreme Court Grants Further Review in Important Drug-Testing Case\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-18T10:18:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413\"},\"wordCount\":867,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Drug_Test-260x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Case\",\"Court\",\"DrugTesting\",\"Grants\",\"Important\",\"Iowa\",\"review\",\"Supreme\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Legal\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=141413\",\"name\":\"Iowa Supreme Court Grants Further Review in Important Drug-Testing Case - 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