Creative Consensus, Inc.

box $473,$ HCR $33,$ Spruce Head, ME $04859$

THE DRUG$-$TESTING PROGRAM

Leonard Greenhalgh

Dartmouth College

Background and Confidential Information for Bo Barris, Logistics Manager

Tromp Airfreight is the latest acquisition of Tromp Ventures, a highly diversified holding company run by a financier whose compulsion to acquire new businesses has been viewed by his many critics as much stronger than his business sense. One of the problems arising from Tromp's acquisition binge has been his inability to manage different types of organizations in dynamic markets. In an effort to avoid totally losing control of his operations, Mr$.$ Tromp made several appointments, whom he immodestly referred to as his "White House Staff." Among them was retired General Hague, a former high$-$level manager in the Pentagon. Tromp's press release described Hague as a man with vast experience $-$ in the Marine Corps and at the Pentagon $-$ at "making a large system work like a well$-$oiled machine."

Hague drafted many system$-$wide policies for the Tromp empire, the latest of which involved drugtesting. Prior to Hague's appointment, Tromp Commuter Airlines $($an operation completely different from newly acquired Tromp Airfreight$)$ had been working with a task force to develop a policy for pilots concerning drug use $($none of Tromp's operations are unionized$).$ As soon as Hague arrived, however, he immediately imposed a system$-$wide policy that was based on his experience with the military. The policy calls for all pilots to be tested $($through urinalysis$)$ at least once a year on an unscheduled basis. The penalty for verified evidence of the presence of "recreational" $($non$-$prescription, controlled$)$ drugs in bodily fluids is immediate dismissal. The policy does not set tolerance levels, as in the case of blood alcohol in drunk$-$driving laws. Pilots testing positive who believe the results are in

error can arrange a blood test, at their own expense, to disprove the evidence of the urinalysis.

After issuing his original decree concerning pilots, Hague extended the policy to include all highresponsibility and high$-$security employees in the Tromp system, including people like auditors, employees who handle cash in the casinos, security guards, and mechanics. The workers' response to this second decree was swift and resolute. Those in the affected job categories protested that it was unfair to single them out.

Hague was unsympathetic to the broad protest, but Mr$.$ Tromp prevailed on Hague to ease workers' feelings of inequity. In response, Hague issued a third decree, this time requiring that each year, at least two percent of the workforce $-$ randomly selected undergo mandatory testing. He also clarified the policy for everyone by pointing out that refusal to submit to the test carried the same consequences as positive test results $-$ instant dismissal. Under pressure from Tromp to appear less harsh, Hague grudgingly agreed that employees who were outside of critical operations and who had five years of seniority or more could, at management's discretion, be reinstated after completing a mandatory $($twoweek$,$ in$-$patient$)$ drug rehabilitation program. However, they would thereafter be subjected to the same at$-$least$-$once$-$a$-$year random schedule testing required of pilots.

The first drug$-$testing case within Tromp Airfreight involved Bo Barris, the Logistics. Manager in the airfreight forwarding operation. Bo had worked for the company for eight years prior to its acquisition by Tromp three months ago. Bo is MBA$-$trained and has