SUPREME COURT DECISIONS SET PRECEDENT FOR PILOT DRUG TESTING

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to allow drug testing in two separate cases concerning railroads and U.S. Customs Service employees. This strengthens the Department of Transportation's plans for mandatory testing of airline workers with critical safety responsibilities. The key to both of the court's decisions was the justices' concern for the safety of the public. This was deemed more important than the rights of individual employees in certain cases. The Department of Transportation is likely to use a similar argument to defend its drug-test rules in pending cases brought by airline labor groups. Attorneys from Natca, the Air Line Pilots Association and the International Association of Machinists, three major employee groups objecting to the Department of Transportation's drug test policies, found significant differences between these cases and aviation worker concerns. The director of consumer and industry affairs for the U.S. branch of the International Airline Passengers Association suggested an alternative method - a simple psychological test to determine the employee's judgment and performance each day as he or she reports to work.

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• Authors:
  • Proctor, P
• Publication Date: 1989-3-27

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 30
• Serial:
  • Aviation Week & Space Technology
  • Volume: 130
  • Issue Number: 13
  • Publisher: McGraw-Hill, Incorporated
  • ISSN: 0005-2175

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air pilots; Airline pilots; Drug tests; Legal action; Psychological tests; Safety; Transportation departments
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00481077
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 31 1989 12:00AM