New solutions regarding sobriety control, long awaited by employers, have appeared in the Polish Labor Code. The clients of our PRWT accounting office ask what the employee sobriety control process looks like now and how to prepare for it?

When can you check the sobriety of employees?

A sobriety test may be carried out if one of the following conditions is met:

– the control is necessary to ensure the protection of life and health of employees or other persons,

– control is necessary for the protection of property

Above directory is closed. This means that other reasons for introducing sobriety control, even justified from the employer’s point of view, cannot be applied.

Who can be controled?

Employees are subject to inspection, regardless of the type of employment contract they have with the employer or the position held. All persons employed by the entrepreneur on a basis other than an employment relationship (civil law contracts) are also subject to inspection.

Employer’s obligation

An employer who wants to conduct a sobriety test is obliged to introduce the possibilities and define the rules of the inspection in the internal regulations (including specifying the group or groups of employees covered by the sobriety test, the method of conducting the sobriety test, including the type of device used for the inspection, time and frequency of its performance). The employer must also remember that the sobriety test cannot infringe the personal rights of the inspected person. The employer informs the employees about the introduction of the sobriety test 2 weeks before the commencement of the sobriety test.

 What does the control look like?

The sobriety test itself is to be carried out using methods that do not require laboratory testing, i.e. using a device that has a valid document confirming its calibration. The test consists in determining the absence of alcohol in the employee’s body or the presence of alcohol indicating the state after the use of alcohol or the state of intoxication. Importantly, the legislator assumes a certain margin to determine whether a person is under the influence of alcohol. An employee who has consumed alcohol, i.e. up to 0.2‰ of alcohol concentration in the blood or up to 0.1 mg to 0.25 mg of alcohol in 1 dm3 of exhaled air, is sober.

Consequences for the employee?

The consequences of an employee appearing at work in a state of intoxication make it necessary to prevent the employee from performing work. The employee is also threatened with much more severe disciplinary consequences, including termination of the employment contract without notice.

Just  only alcohol?

Employees must take into account the possibility that the employer may also carry out checks for the presence of substances having a similar effect to alcohol. The same rules apply to these types of checks as those set out for alcohol checks.