Ms. Susan L. Stoner
General Counsel
Amalgamated Transit Union, Division 757
1801 NE Couch Street
Portland, Oregon 97232-3054

Dear Ms. Stoner:

Thank you for your August 11, 1998, letter in which you seek clarification of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations on drug and alcohol testing. Specifically, your questions relate to testing at the end of an employee's shift, and the relationship between the implementing regulations and collective bargaining agreements.

You ask the FTA to provide citation to a Federal regulation requiring testing at the end of an employee's shift. In past letters of interpretation from this office, as well as in technical guidance provided by the Office of Safety and Security, the FTA has provided an official position on "end of shift" testing. In a previous letter on this issue, for example, the FTA noted that "[t]he rules [both drug and alcohol] require that an employer conduct random testing in a manner that is unpredictable to the employee, including when he has ended his work day." I am enclosing a copy of that letter.

Covered employees are subject to selection and testing at any time during their shift, including just prior to ending that shift (i.e., "punching out"). If a test is initiated while the employee is on duty, the employee may not stop the test simply because the employee's shift has ended. Once a test is initiated, it must be completed, even when such completion has the incidental effect of causing the employee to stay overtime.

This regulatory requirement that an employee remain subject to random testing throughout his or her work shift, including at the end of the shift, is not subject to amendment by a collective bargaining agreement.

If you have further questions, please contact Michael Connelly of my staff at (202) 366-4011.

Very truly yours,
(Signed)
Patrick W. Reilly
Chief Counsel

Enclosure