Abstract

To discourage the existence of alcohol in the workplace, employers develop policies that provide for the dismissal of employees found with alcohol in their bloodstream. Some employers set the bar higher by adopting an approach that allows the employer to dismiss the employee for the mere presence of alcohol in an employee’s bloodstream. This raises several issues, focused on in this note, including, inter alia, the extent to which breathalyser results may be legally challenged; the reasonableness of policies determining the level of accepted alcohol limits in an employee’s bloodstream; as well as the reasonableness of sanctions imposed by employers.