WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Some changes are coming to Wausau’s Metro Ride drug and alcohol testing policy.
At the city’s Transit Commission meeting last week, the members discussed the changes and policy. Director of Transit Greg Seubert says the changes are mainly an increase in the number of tests due to more positive results from the FTA administrator. “And so they’re increasing the rates. So they recommended that we add to our policies specific language indicating the rates that we use will be the same as those set by the FTA Administrator annually.”
Another section of the policy the members discussed heavily was the section on prescription drugs. Employees are required to disclose to their Metro Ride employer of any prescription drugs they are using. Seubert says that part of the policy was negotiated with employees.
“And it does not require the prescription testing. We negotiated that section with the union when we established the overall policy. And so it’s not something we even posed. It’s something we negotiated with our employees. It’s something they acknowledge when they received the policy.”
A couple of members of the commission had concerns about privacy issues with the prescription drug policy. Seubert feels the discussion helped satisfy the concerns. “I think the concern was the confidentiality of that information and how we treat the information internally. And I think we’ve satisfied the concerns here today.”
The commission approved the new policy unanimously. It will go into effect at the first of the year.
