There are several ways to approach the Super Bowl at work and increase employee engagement. The Monday after the game has more people calling out sick than any other day of the year. According to a survey conducted by Office Team, 72% of HR professionals want the day turned into a holiday. Until that happens, let’s look at some tips to help you keep your employees engaged and at work.

1. Plan an employer-sponsored breakfast. You will get more people into the office if you give them a positive experience as soon as they arrive. The breakfast will also give them the chance to talk about the game with their co-workers without taking up productivity time.
2. Entice employees into the office by running a super bowl raffle. Have everyone fill out a ticket and put their guess at the games’ score, who will win the MVP, etc. Announce the winner Monday morning with the caveat that the employee must be present to win.
3. If your company can afford it, give your employees a late start on Monday. Everyone needs to come to work, but the start time could be delayed by a few hours. This not only builds morale; it also gets far more people into the office.

Things to be aware of while planning for the Super Bowl:

1. Reasonable Suspicion: In years past Blueline has seen a significant spike in positive alcohol and drug tests the week after the super bowl. Keep your workplace safe and be mindful of safety-sensitive positions within your company.
2. Office Pools: Office pools can lead to legal issues if not properly implemented. Check to ensure your company has a policy that complies with local and state laws. You can be more strict, but don’t allow pools if they’ve been deemed illegal by the state.
3. Revenue costs: The number of people who call out sick causes a total loss of revenues over $2 billion dollars. A survey done by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas found that the dollar figure could rise even higher in the years to come.

The Super Bowl can be fun. It can also make the workplace more enjoyable for a few days. Keep your employees engaged with work while still having fun. Not only will you be more productive, but you’ll also have better retention rates as well. Blueline Services can help with background and screening checks to make the employers’ guide to any event simple and straightforward.

The post The Employers’ Guide to the Super Bowl appeared first on Blueline.

We, as a Nation, are facing an unprecedented public health emergency that is straining medical resources and altering aspects of American life, including the workplace. The Nation’s transportation industries, which are not immune to the impacts and disruptions resulting from the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, are playing a vital role in mitigating the effects of COVID-19.

DOT is committed to maintaining public safety while providing maximum flexibility to allow transportation industries to conduct their operations safely and efficiently during this period of national emergency.

The below guidance on compliance with the DOT and modal drug and alcohol testing programs apply during this period of national emergency.

For DOT-Regulated Employers:

• As a DOT-regulated employer, you must comply with applicable DOT training and testing requirements. However, DOT recognizes that compliance may not be possible in certain areas due to the unavailability of program resources, such as collection sites, Breath Alcohol Technicians (BAT), Medical Review Officers (MRO) and Substance Abuse Professionals (SAP). You should make a reasonable effort to locate the necessary resources. As a best practice at this time, employers should consider mobile collection services for required testing if the fixed-site collection facilities are not available.
• If you are unable to conduct DOT drug or alcohol training or testing due to COVID-19-related supply shortages, facility closures, State or locally imposed quarantine requirements, or other impediments, you are to continue to comply with existing applicable DOT Agency requirements to document why a test was not completed. If training or testing can be conducted later (e.g., supervisor reasonable suspicion training at the next available opportunity, random testing later in the selection period, follow-up testing later in the month), you are to do so in accordance with applicable modal regulations. Links to the modal regulations and their respective web pages can be found at https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/agencies.
• If employers are unable to conduct DOT drug and alcohol testing due to the unavailability of testing resources, the underlying modal regulations continue to apply. For example, without a “negative” pre-employment drug test result, an employer may not permit a prospective or current employee to perform any DOT safety-sensitive functions, or in the case of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), you cannot hire the individual (See 14 CFR § 120.109(1) and (2)).
• Additionally, DOT is aware that some employees have expressed concern about potential public health risks associated with the collection and testing process in the current environment. Employers should review the applicable DOT Agency requirements for testing to determine whether flexibilities allow for collection and testing at a later date.
• As a reminder, it is the employer’s responsibility to evaluate the circumstances of the employee’s refusal to test and determine whether or not the employee’s actions should be considered a refusal as per 49 CFR § 40.355(i). However, as the COVID-19 outbreak poses a novel public health risk, DOT asks employers to be sensitive to employees who indicate they are not comfortable or are afraid to go to clinics or collection sites. DOT asks employers to verify with the clinic or collection site that it has taken the necessary precautions to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
• Employers should revisit back-up plans to ensure the plans are current and effective for the current outbreak conditions. For example, these plans should include availability of collectors and collection sites and BAT, and alternate/back-up MRO, as these may have changed as a result of the national emergency. Employers should also have regular communications with service agents regarding the service agent’s availability and capability to support your DOT drug and alcohol testing program.

For DOT-Regulated Employees:

• If you are experiencing COVID-19-related symptoms, you should contact your medical provider and, if necessary, let your employer know about your availability to perform work.
• If you have COVID-19-related concerns about testing, you should discuss them with your employer.
• As a reminder, it is the employer’s responsibility to evaluate the circumstances of the employee’s refusal to test and determine whether or not the employee’s actions should be considered a refusal as per 49 CFR § 40.355(i).

For Service Agents:

• As a collector, BAT, laboratory, MRO, or SAP, you should continue to provide services to DOT-regulated employers if it is possible to do so in accordance with State or local mandates related to COVID-19. Should you have concerns about COVID-19 when testing or interacting with employees, please follow your company policy, directions from State and local officials, and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

You are encouraged to continue to monitor guidance from public health officials and to refer to official government channels for additional information related to COVID-19. The CDC provides helpful guidance and insight from medical professionals who closely monitor the virus. Click here to access the CDC latest updates (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html). Also for reference, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released guidance on preparing workplaces for COVID-19
(https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf)

The post DOT Guidance Regarding COVID-19 appeared first on Blueline.

We wanted to remind you that beginning in January your background check applicants will start receiving 613 Letters.

The basic premise of this is that we will notify applicants when any matter of public record is found on a background check that may affect their hiring or promotion. This new practice will have little to no impact on you as an employer.

This is deemed a “best practice” policy that will help you as a client stay on the right side of any employee/applicant challenge or complaint as it pertains to background checks.

One adjustment that will need to be made with this new policy is making sure a space is added to ask for email addresses from all applicants/employees for background checks beginning on January 1st 2020. This will allow Blueline Services to manage the reporting and compliance aspect of the 613 Letter.

A new authorization form with an added email address field is available in our system under the HELP tab. You should be able to download the new form there.

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please feel free to reach out to our backgrounds team at backgrounds@blueline-services.com.

Thank you,

The Blueline Services Team

The post REMINDER: 613 Letters to begin next month! appeared first on Blueline.

Certain safety-sensitive positions require employers to have a designed SAP, like those that are under Department of Transportation regulation. However, it is considered best practice for all employers to have their own designated Substance Abuse Professional, especially if they desire to maintain a drug-free workplace.

SAPs are responsible for evaluating employees who have violated a drug or alcohol regulation and making recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare. These professionals can help your employees overcome these addictions and keep your work environment safe.

Who can be an SAP?

According to DOT regulations, a qualified SAP should have a basic knowledge of the following areas:

-The diagnosis and treatment of alcohol and controlled substance-related disorders with some clinical experience
-The SAP role and function in relation to employer interests and safety-sensitive duties
-DOT agency regulations and DOT SAP guidelines

An SAP must also have at least one of the following qualifications: a licensed physician, a licensed or certified social worker, a licensed or certified psychologist, a licensed or certified Employee Assistance Professional, a state-licensed or certified marriage and family therapist, or be drug and alcohol certified by the NAADAC, ICRC, or NBCC.

What will our SAP do?

If an accident, report, or cause for reasonable suspicion comes to a supervisor’s attention, that individual should be tested as soon as possible for drugs and/or alcohol. (If you have questions about how to set up reasonable suspicion or post-accident testing, let us know!) If the employee in question has tested positive, the SAP must have two face-to-face evaluations with the individual (according to DOT regulations).

The first initial evaluation is for the SAP to determine the depth of the problem and what assistance or steps will be required to help the employee. The SAP will then send a letter/email to the employer with the employee’s details along with their recommendations for treatment/education.

After the education or treatment has been approved and the employee has completed all of the recommendations made by the SAP, the SAP will conduct a follow-up evaluation. After the follow-up, the SAP can help recommend follow-up testing requirements for the employer to have the employee in question complete. These requirements can often include:

-A minimum of 6 drug or alcohol test in the first 12 months (continuing for up to 5 years)
-No advance notice of testing dates
-Testing to be done under direct observation
-Inability to substitute other tests in lieu of follow-up testing
-Cancelled follow-up tests must be recollected

A qualified and compliant SAP can help keep your workplace environment safe and protect you as an employer, even if you are not a DOT regulated company.

If you need help understanding how to begin drug testing or other services that could potentially benefit your drug testing program, please reach out to our drug testing department. We’re always happy to help!

The post What Exactly Is A Substance Abuse Professional? appeared first on Blueline.

We thought that these statistics might be useful to consider as you strive to make or update your own workplace drug policies.

This NSC survey was taken by over 500 individuals that make decisions about workplace drug and alcohol programs for their companies. While 86% of the respondents agreed that opioids (even while taken as prescribed) impact job performance, only half (50%) of respondents felt confident about their company’s substance abuse policies and procedures.

Some other interesting statistics from the survey included:

-75% of employers have been directly affected by opioid use
-79% of employers are not very confident that individual employees can spot warning signs of opioid misuse
-One-third of employers have experienced an overdose, arrest, or injury/near-miss
-38% of employers have experienced absenteeism or impaired worker performance
–Despite widespread impact, only 17% of employers feel extremely well prepared to deal with this issue

Nick Smith, interim president and CEO of NSC said, “The opioid crisis is truly encompassing nearly every aspect of American lives. Today’s survey confirms that the No. 1 cause of preventable death is not just taking its toll on our home lives but companies across the country are also grappling with the impact of this epidemic.”

If you have questions about reasonable suspicion training or how you can help get your supervisors trained to handle drug and alcohol abuse within the workplace, please contact us! We’ll help you get it figured out. All Blueline Service clients have access to our FREE reasonable suspicion training materials.

You can contact our drug testing department at mail@blueline-services.com. Please feel free to take a look at NSC’s drug use guide as well here.

The post Employers Speak Up About Illicit Opioid Use At Work appeared first on Blueline.

Although it seems that this employee probably didn’t mean any harm and was just goofing off… it certainly has caused some backlash for Wendy’s and cost this young man his job. Mixed reviews have been popping up all over social media about the viral video of a Milton Florida Wendy’s employee bathing in their restaurant sink. A few of the responses have even gotten a bit frosty.

The 90-second video was originally posted to Snapchat last month, then later reposted to Facebook with the comment, “I don’t suggest anyone eating at the Milton Wendy’s again.” The video currently has over 1 million views.

In the video, you can see a young man hopping into the large kitchen sink that is filled with soap and water. His fellow co-workers stand around laughing and filming the scene.

Mike Johnson, who owns this Wendy’s franchise, gave a statement to Pensacola News Journal, “We are taking this incident seriously and it is obviously totally unacceptable. This was a prank by a person who no longer works at this restaurant, and who clearly did not use good judgement. We are taking this opportunity to reinforce our very strict quality procedures with our restaurant team.”

This prank follows a similar video that was posted in 2008 on MySpace of a Burger King employee in Ohio doing the exact same stunt.

Both inspectors from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation visited this Wendy’s location after the incident. The Wendy’s restaurant was able to pass the inspection.

Social media users have been born between being outraged and defending the young man in the video.

“At least he had a pair of shorts on and it is a kitchen skin. I washed my babies in my kitchen skin. I don’t eat out of the sink. So what is the problem,” one Facebook user commented in defense of the incident.

Another more frosty comment stated, “This makes you wonder what else is going on at that restaurant, someone needs to get fired, the sink needs to be sanitized!”

The post Wendy’s Employee Takes A Bath In Restaurant’s Sink appeared first on Blueline.

We’ve outlined some simple steps on how to get started with background checks and what the process looks like! Hopefully these steps help answer some of your questions.

1. Establish A Background Check & Drug Testing Policy

The first step to running background checks is establishing a clear and consistent policy on how your background checks (and/or drug testing) will be performed. This will not only help protect yourself and your company from discrimination/liability issues, but it will also help your entire screening process run more smoothly and efficiently.

Your screening policy should be drafted by both your HR department and legal counsel. Together, they should be able to create a policy that will work for your specific needs, industry, and location. We also have a generic policy that we can send you to help you get started with drafting your own screening policy. SHRM is also a great resource for generic policy outlines. But please remember! Employment laws differ in different states or counties as well as within different industries so please make sure you are familiar with laws that may apply specifically to you.

2. Consent Form

The next step is to provide your applicant with a consent form. They must sign this in order for you to be able to legally perform a background check or drug test. Once you have received the applicant’s consent, you can then move on to the next step.

3. Run The Background Check Through Our System

Now that you have consent, you can run your background check! We have multiple options or ways in which you can run the applicant’s information through our system.

–ATS Integration: (integration option) Our system can easily integrate with a wide variety of applicant tracking systems and HR software. This means that you can easily access screening data about your applicant from within your system.
–Quick App Pro: (link option) A lot of our clients feel that this is the easiest and best option. If you want to use QuickApp Pro, we will set up a customized link for your account. This can include your logo and custom verbiage for your clients. You can embed this link into your website or email it out—whatever is easiest for you! With this option, the applicant’s information will be sent electronically into our platform where we can process the background. We will then email you the results with a flag or not flagged status.
–Quick App: (email option) This option is also a great way to save time and cut down on potential mistakes. You will need to login to our platform and input your applicant’s first and last name along with their email address. The platform will then send the applicant an email asking them to complete their background check. We can set this emailed link to expire in however many days you would prefer.
–Manual Entry: (entry option) The entry option does require a little bit more work and review for you, but we still have a variety of clients that utilize this option. With this option, you have the applicant fill out a paper authorization form and then enter all of that information manually into our platform for us to process.

If you are not a client with Blueline Services, please ensure that your screening provider is a certified FCRA-compliant Credit Reporting Agency. The Fair Credit Reporting Act has established guidelines and regulations that screening providers must adhere to under federal law.

4. Receive Results & Make A Decision

Our system will help you stay up-to-date on any progress with your applicant’s screening. Once we have performed all of the checks and verifications you selected in your screening package, we will send you an email with a link to your applicant’s screening results.

After receiving the results, you are then able to make a more informed hiring decision!

(Please remember that in states where ban-the-box rules apply, you must make a hiring decision first before running a background check.)

4. Follow Pre-Adverse And Adverse Action Requirements

If you decide to hire the applicant that you ran the background check on, then you are good to go! The screening process for hiring that applicant ends here and you are able to send them an employment offer.

However, if you decide to deny an applicant based on findings from your screening report, you must send that applicant both a pre-adverse action letter and adverse action letter. This gives the applicant a chance to review and respond to the findings within their background check. Applicants are given 30 days to appeal if they feel a mistake has been made.

Within our screening system you are easily able to send out both automated pre-adverse and adverse action letters. They are available within a dropdown menu in our system.

After your decision has been made, send out the pre-adverse action letter in order to inform the applicant of your denial and give them a chance to appeal. Then, after a reasonable amount of time has passed for the applicant to be able to respond to the letter (around 3-6 days), you can send the adverse action letter. (please note: the applicant will have a total of 30 days from when the initial pre-adverse action letter was sent to appeal the findings)

——

Those outline the basic steps to running employment background checks. If you have any further questions about this process or need to get started with your own screening process, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Have questions about what’s included in an employment background check? Take a look at our post here about some basic employment background check options!

The post How To Run Employee Background Checks: A Simple Guide appeared first on Blueline.

This is one of the most common questions or hesitations that we get from both employers and employees about drug testing.

Both sides of the issue are a little bit tricky, but the short answer is yes. Yes, an employer can require prescription medication disclosure, and, yes, employees must disclose medication if requested to do so by the employer. However, an employer can’t just require employees to disclose their prescriptions without having good reason to.

When is it appropriate to have a prescription medication disclosure in your workplace drug testing policy?

Unfortunately, there is no specific hard and fast rule for being allowed to mandate disclosure of prescription medications. The issue of privacy is very important in regards to protecting an employee’s rights. However, the issues of safety and liability beat out privacy in the case of safety-sensitive work. If there is a chance that the employee or others could be harmed due to impairment from a prescription drug, then employers are able to require prescription medication disclosure. As a general rule, employers must be able to prove that their request is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Referencing current and past court cases related to prescription drug policies. The following seem to be good indicators that prescription drug policies should be enforced:

1. The employee is engaged in safety sensitive duties.
2. The drug in question may impact the employee’s ability to engage in safety-sensitive duties adversely.
3. The disclosure is only related to on-the-job drug use.
4. The information required to be disclosed is treated by the employer with the utmost discretion in order to safeguard the employee’s privacy.

If you have questions about getting started with drug testing for your own organization, please give us a call at 888-919-8378 or email us at mail@blueline-services.com. We’re more than happy to help!

The post Prescription Medication In The Workplace appeared first on Blueline.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that was enacted in 1970 to help consumers deal with inaccuracies in their credit reports. In 1996, the law was expanded to include other reports including background reports for employment screening purposes. Today, FCRA compliance is mandatory for any employer using a third party to conduct background checks.

Among it provisions, the FCRA includes the following to protect consumers:

-Consumers have the right to be informed and provide consent when an employment background check is going to be performed
-Consumers have the right to review any information complied on them from these checks and correct any inaccuracies that it may contain
-Consumers have the right to know when their personal data is used in decisions that will affect them
-Consumers have the right to appeal those decisions if they feel that they were made unfairly

As an employer, when you are choosing a background check provider you need to ensure that your provider is a certified FCRA-compliant Credit Reporting Agency (CRA). Aside from choosing a quality, certified CRA, employers also play a critical role within several steps of the background check process.

Your FCRA responsibilities as an employer include:

–FCRA-permitted purpose: The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that employers are only allowed to conduct background checks on employees or potential hires with the purpose of determining fitness for a position. This includes routine background checks to ensure that new charges or findings have not occurred for current employees or employees that are being considered for a promotion or new role within the company.
(Make sure that your purposes for running a background check fall within these guidelines. You should not run a background check on employees for personal reasons or reasons that fall outside of determining fitness for employment.)

-Disclosure & Consent: In order for a background check to be legal, the employer must provide all candidates (including current employees) with a written disclosure of their plans to conduct the background check. This disclosure must be presented on its own—not handed over in an orientation packet or with a collection of other papers. For employers wishing to run a background check on a potential job candidate under review, they must also obtain a signed consent form from the candidate before instructing a CRA to conduct a background check.
(Please ensure that your screening candidate is aware that a background check will be performed on them in order to avoid any liability issues.)

-Share results with the candidate: Upon completion of a background check and before making a final hiring decision, employers must inform candidates of their rights under the FCRA and offer them to opportunity to review (and dispute if necessary) any information within their report. (We always include this information in our authorization forms and offer to send a consumer copy electronically if requested.)

-Consider Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules to findings review: Under the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers are banned from excluding potential hires based purely on past arrests or criminal records (unless directed otherwise by state or federal regulations) if the offense is not relevant to an applicants ability to perform their job. Employers should also remember to pay heed to various states “ban the box” regulations which can forbid them from asking about criminal records until after serious hiring consideration.
(Be sure to take each applicant on a case-by-case basis. Consider what the job requirements are, their personal character, if they have completed any rehabilitation programs, or if they have performed well in similar roles before.)

-Follow proper 2-step adverse-action procedures: If a background check does contribute to a decision against hiring, retaining, or promoting a candidate, an employer must issue the candidate written notice. This notice is knows as a pre-adverse action notification and gives the candidate a chance to refute or explain any findings before a hiring decision is final.
(Blueline Services is happy to provide guidance on this process. Our state of the art platform will also help create pre-adverse notifications for you to help streamline your process.)

-Finalize the hire: Once background checks have been conducted, any disputed facts have been corrected as needed, and candidates have been notified of any adverse actions (and given the chance to respond), an employer can then make the final hiring decision and notify all candidates of their final decision.

Here at Blueline Services we always work to stay up-to-date on all of the latest industry changes and updates to keep our clients on top of things. If you have any questions on how to stay FCRA compliant, please feel free to reach out to 888-919-8378 or backgrounds@blueline-services.com.

The post What Does It Mean To Be FCRA Compliant? appeared first on Blueline.

They went on to outline different scenarios in which workplace drug testing is usually permissible, including:

• Random drug testing
• Drug testing under a state workers’ compensation law
• Drug testing under other federal law, such as a U.S. Department of Transportation rule
• Drug testing unrelated to the reporting of a work-related injury or illness

To read more of the memorandum check it out here. Blueline Services works to help keep you updated on any changing laws and statues around the country. If you have any questions regarding this memorandum or how a workplace drug testing incentive program could benefit your company, give us a call at 888-919-8378 or email us at mail@blueline-services.com.

The post OSHA Memorandum on Post-Accident Testing appeared first on Blueline.