May Cause Drowsiness ... Or Worse

A few days ago I posted about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being used to require around 300,000 swimming pools to install hydraulic lifts -- at a cost of over $1 billion -- to help disabled swimmers enter and exit the pools. That's a prime example of regulatory overkill.

Now we have this example of regulatory nonsense trumping common sense. From the Cato Institute:

…Common sense dictates that any medication that carries with it a warning that it “may cause drowsiness” or that the patient should “use caution” if operating machinery may pose a risk in the workplace. It is for this reason that many employers adopt a policy requiring employees to self report the use of prescription pain killers. This is especially important in potentially dangerous workplaces such as manufacturing and construction.

In a recent action that defies common sense, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has taken the position that such policies are unlawful under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The ADA prohibits an employer from conducting “medical inquiries” without a business reason to do so. In EEOC v. Product Fabricators, Inc., an action in federal court in Minnesota, the EEOC required a manufacturing employer to abandon its policy of encouraging employees to inform supervisors if they are under the influence of narcotic pain killers such as Vicodin. The EEOC took the position that an employer cannot ask about prescription pain killer usage unless it has “objective” evidence that an employee is impaired on the job.

This places employers in a very difficult position….

That last line is a candidate for Understatement of the Year. The employer can either wait until someone is maimed or killed by an employee operating heavy or lethal machinery under the influence of a narcotic...

... guaranteeing an attack by a bevy of ambulance-chasing shysters, or else press the issue with its employees and face an EEOC action, most likely coupled with an individual lawsuit from the 'wronged' employee.

Pick your poison.

These two cases are excellent illustrations of how the obama administration is using its administrative powers to hamstring American businesses. We have got to get that walking disaster out of office before this country is irredeemably ruined.