Oklahoma Revises Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Act Standards to be More Employer-Friendly
Oklahoma has substantially revised its Standards For Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Act, Okla. Stat. Ann. §§ 551 – 563, effective November 1, 2011. The law has been simplified and eliminates a number of requirements previously imposed on employers.
Employer Testing of Applicant for Substance Not Approved by State is Willful Violation of Oklahoma Law
A federal court in Oklahoma has held that an employer willfully violated the state’s drug testing law, making it liable for damages, after it denied employment to an applicant for testing positive for a drug that is not among those listed in state regulations as approved for employment substance abuse testing
10th Circuit Holds That Guns In Company Parking Lot Are OK . . . In OK.
Where a state law stands as an obstacle to the execution of the clear objectives of a federal law, or where it is impossible for a party to comply with both state and federal requirements, that state law may be “pre-empted” by the federal statute. In a case that could have far-reaching implications for employers, a federal appellate court has held that two Oklahoma laws holding employers criminally liable for prohibiting employees from storing firearms in locked vehicles on company property are not preempted by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (the OSH Act).
Tenth Circuit Lifts Injunction on Oklahoma Gun Laws that Prohibit Employers' "No Weapons" Policies.
Oklahoma’s gun laws making employers criminally liable for prohibiting employees from storing firearms locked in vehicles on company property are not preempted by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has held. Ramsey Winch Inc. v. Henry, No. 07-5166 (10th Cir. Feb. 18, 2009). Rejecting the arguments of Oklahoma businesses, the Court reversed the district court’s grant of a permanent injunction that kept Oklahoma from enforcing the sections of its gun laws that prohibited property owners from banning the storage of firearms locked in vehicles on the owner’s property.
Oklahoma State Drug Testing Law Inapplicable to Federally-Mandated Drug Test, 10th Circuit Holds.
A federal appeals court in Denver has ruled that an employee fired based on the results of a federally-mandated drug test cannot pursue a private lawsuit against his employer for alleged violations of Oklahoma state drug testing law.
Easiest New State Employment Law to Get Around (pdf).
On November 1, 2004, a new law becomes effective in Oklahoma that
will allow employees (other than convicted felons) to bring concealed
weapons onto their employers’ property as long as their firearms are kept in
a locked vehicle.
