Utah drug testing laws for private employers live in one short statute: Utah Code Title 34, Chapter 38, the Utah Drug and Alcohol Testing Act.
It does not force a private employer to test anyone. Section 34-38-12 says no one can sue an employer for failing to set up a testing program. What the Act does is offer protection: an employer that tests "as a condition of hiring or continued employment" is "protected from liability as provided in this chapter if the employer complies with this chapter" (34-38-3(1)).
So the real question for a Utah business owner is not "am I allowed to test?" It is "am I testing the way the Act describes, so the protection applies?" Here is what the Act requires, section by section.
This page explains the statute in plain language. It is not legal advice. Confirm the specifics of your own policy with your employment counsel.
The Act defines an employer as a person, including a public utility or transit district, "that has one or more workers or operators employed in the same business" (34-38-2(4)(a)). One employee is enough.
It does not cover the federal government, the state, or local political subdivisions (34-38-2(4)(b)). Cities, counties, school districts and similar bodies have their own chapter, Title 34, Chapter 41, on local government drug-free workplace policies.
It covers both employees and prospective employees. A prospective employee is anyone who applies, "either in writing or orally" (34-38-2(8)). That is why the Act matters for pre-employment screening as much as for current staff.
This is the requirement employers skip most often, and it is the one everything else hangs on.
Section 34-38-7(1): testing "shall be carried out within the terms of a written policy which has been distributed to employees and is available for review by prospective employees."
Within that written policy, the Act lists four purposes for testing (34-38-7(2)):
Testing under the policy "need not be limited to circumstances where there are indications of individual, job-related impairment" (34-38-7(3)). In other words, the Act does not require suspicion before a test, as long as the test is inside a written policy.
One more line people miss: when an employer tests, "employers and management in general shall submit to the testing themselves on a periodic basis" (34-38-3(1)).
How to write that policy is covered in writing a workplace drug and alcohol testing policy in Utah.
Two rules in Section 34-38-5 that affect scheduling and payroll:
That second rule is one reason on-site collection is practical for Utah employers. If the collector comes to the workplace, there is no off-site trip to pay for.
The Act lets the employer choose the specimen. A sample is "urine, blood, breath, saliva, or hair" (34-38-2(9)), and "the employer may designate the type of sample to be used for testing" (34-38-4). The employer may also require reliable identification at collection.
Section 34-38-6 sets the collection standard:
A positive screen alone is not a "failed test" under Utah law.
Before a result can be used against an employee or applicant, Section 34-38-6(6)(b) requires a confirmation test by gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, or another comparably reliable method. For urine, that confirmation has to be done by a laboratory on the federal HHS laboratory program list.
The Act defines a failed test as a confirmed result that is positive, adulterated or substituted (34-38-2(5)).
Section 34-38-8 lets an employer act on a confirmed failed test that violates the written policy, or on a refusal to provide a sample. The listed actions include:
This is the payoff for following the Act.
The Legislature also kept a door open for workers: it "does not intend to prohibit an employee from seeking damages or job reinstatement" when an employer acts on an inaccurate result (34-38-1(2)).
Test-related information, meaning results, reports, interviews, statements and memoranda from the testing program, is a confidential communication (34-38-13(2)). It belongs to the employer (34-38-13(4)) and can be used in a proceeding about the employer's own disciplinary action, among the limited exceptions in that section.
The Act also says a confirmed positive result, by itself, does not make someone a person with a disability under the Utah Antidiscrimination Act (34-38-14).
If any of your drivers hold a CDL, you have a second rulebook. Federal Part 382 covers employers of drivers subject to the CDL requirements (49 CFR 382.103), and those tests follow 49 CFR Part 40.
The two programs must stay apart. Under 49 CFR 40.13, DOT tests "must be completely separate from non-DOT tests in all respects," and an employer must not use the federal custody form for non-DOT testing. Many Utah employers run both: DOT testing for CDL drivers and a Utah-law program for everyone else. See DOT drug testing requirements for Utah employers and what a non-DOT drug test is.
No. Section 34-38-12 says no cause of action arises from an employer's failure to set up a testing program. Employers who choose to test get the Act's protection by following it.
Yes, within a written policy. Section 34-38-7(3) says testing need not be limited to cases where there are signs of job-related impairment. The employee-rights side of unannounced testing is in random testing at work in Utah.
The employer pays all costs of testing it requires (34-38-5(2)).
Yes. A refusal to provide a sample is a basis for action under 34-38-8(1)(b), and refusal to hire is one of the listed actions.
BBB Mobile DOT Drug Testing runs non-DOT workplace collections for Utah employers on site, with documented chain of custody, from Park City and Summit County through Wasatch County and the Salt Lake metro. We also handle DOT testing for your CDL drivers, kept fully separate.
See non-DOT drug testing in Utah, price a visit with the estimator, or call (435) 395-1459.
BBB Mobile comes to your job site. DOT-compliant collection, SAMHSA-approved lab, MRO-reviewed results. Serving Park City, Heber City, Salt Lake City, and all of Utah.
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