RAA, ATA Fight New Drug Testing Rules

Saying it raises a host of personnel problems and it has seen no evidence to support the rule change, the Regional Airline Association joined with the Air Transport Association (ATA) asking the Department of Transportation to delay its August 25 requirement that airlines “directly observe” the urine collection from specified employees under DOT’s procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs.
“All regional airlines have FAA approved drug testing programs which have done a great job of deterring what little drug use existed before testing was started,” said RAA President Roger Cohen, noting that other mainstream groups, including ALPA, the AFL-CIO and various railroad organizations have raised similar objections. “Mandating that certain samples must be ‘directly observed’ by same-gender collectors raises not only a host of training, enforcement and compliance issues, but also sensitive personal privacy concerns for our employees. The current procedures work well, and we’ll continue to work closely with FAA and DOT to keep these programs up to date. But in this case we have not seen any evidence that these obviously invasive changes will improve on what we have today.”
The RAA/ATA filing specifically refers to instructions in the new rules mandating that: “…you must request the employee to raise his or her shirt, blouse, or dress/skirt, as appropriate, above the waist; and lower clothing and underpants to show you, by turning around, that they do not have a prosthetic device. After you have determined that the employee does not have such a device, you may permit the employee to return clothing to its proper position for observed urination.”