Supreme Court OKs Drug Tests of Rail Workers

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court today gave railroads broader power to test their workers for drugs, upholding routine tests for Conrail employees.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices said Conrail--the Consolidated Rail Corp.--can require the tests without permitting collective bargaining over the issue.

The decision marks the first time that the court has ruled on drug testing by private employers. But the ruling is based on an interpretation of the federal Railway Labor Act and may not have sweeping impact for other workers.

Sensitive Government Jobs

Last March, in its first rulings on testing for drug and alcohol abuse in the American workplace, the court said workers in sensitive government jobs or entrusted with public safety can be forced to undergo the tests.

In the Conrail case, the railroad announced in February, 1987, that it unilaterally would check for drugs as part of a urinalysis administered periodically to workers and also when they returned to work after an absence.

The railway said the need for the tests was magnified by an accident at Chase, Md., on Jan. 4, 1987, in which an Amtrak passenger train collided with Conrail locomotives, killing 16 people and injuring 174 others. The Conrail engineer and brakeman subsequently were found to have been using marijuana.

Urine Tests Since 1976

Conrail has conducted urine tests since 1976 as part of periodic physical examinations administered to workers at intervals varying between one and three years depending on the employee’s age and job classification.

But those tests were aimed at discovering whether a worker, for example, had diabetes and not whether the employee was using drugs.

Railway labor unions said adding the drug-screening component to the urinalysis is a “major” labor-management dispute as defined by the federal Railway Labor Act and therefore must be submitted to collective bargaining.