An Act to Update Employer Substance Use Testing Policy Requirements
Sponsored By: Charles Skold (Democratic)
Signed by Governor
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
12 provisions identified: 9 benefits, 1 costs, 2 mixed.
Stronger pay protections during worker rehabilitation
Employers generally cannot reduce pay or benefits during rehabilitation, but need not pay for time rehabilitation makes an employee unavailable. Medical disqualification no longer excuses employers from pay protections or duties to reinstate workers or seek suitable work. After successful rehabilitation, workers can return to their prior job with full pay and benefits unless unrelated conditions prevent it. Reinstatement must follow union agreements and generally occur within six months after return to work. Employers can reassign or suspend workers for safety; if the prior job is unsafe, they must seek suitable placement without cutting prior pay or benefits during the transition. After return to the same employer, one unannounced follow-up test is allowed between 90 days and one year after the prior test. During the first 90 days, tests need another authorized basis.
Workers get a shorter rehabilitation window
After an employee's first confirmed positive, employers must offer rehabilitation before taking covered job action based on that result. The window is now up to 12 weeks, down from six months. Employers must also offer their employee assistance program when they have one. Employers can take covered job action if the worker fails to comply or finish successfully within 12 weeks. A later confirmed positive can also lead to job action. Hiring, discipline, discharge, or reassignment based on results or refusal must still follow civil rights, medical cannabis, and other applicable laws.
Employers must follow approved testing policies
Maine employers do not have to test, but employers that test must have a written policy approved by the Department of Labor. Policy changes also need approval, and employers must fully follow their policy once a test starts. Policies must explain testing, voluntary admissions, available help, privacy, training, job consequences, rehabilitation, and free appeals. Employers must report yearly testing totals, separating workers from applicants and identifying random and criteria-based tests. To stop testing, employers must give written notice and an expected stop date. After state approval, they cannot test while inactive unless federal law requires it; restarting a prior approved policy requires written notice.
More safeguards for worker test samples
Except for allowed quick screens, employer-run employee testing facilities must meet Maine's qualified laboratory standards. Labs test only requested substances, stop after a negative screen, and confirm non-negative results using the same sample. Employers can use FDA-cleared, noninstrumented quick-screen devices for urine or saliva. A quick-screen non-negative result must be shared immediately with the tested person, but not the employer before confirmation. Negative quick-screen samples are destroyed. Labs keep confirmed positive samples for one year for retesting and dispose of other samples immediately after testing. The cannabis urine cutoff cannot be below 15 ng/mL; state health officials set other cutoffs and may accept federal levels where state levels are absent.
More workers get state testing safeguards
Breath tests for blood-alcohol levels now fall under Maine's workplace substance testing rules. Nuclear power facilities lose their blanket exemption, covering employees, independent contractors, and contractor employees. The federal testing exception requires at least one Maine employee whose testing is federally required. Employers using that exception must apply the same federal testing rules to other applicants and employees they test.
Stronger limits on suspicion-based worker testing
Reasonable suspicion replaces probable cause and requires specific facts showing observable behavior that suggests possible impairment. One work accident alone is not enough. Suspicion cannot rest only on anonymous information or off-duty possession without observation on workplace premises. An authorized supervisor, licensed physician or nurse, or employer security worker must make the decision. That person must write down the reasons and give the employee a copy before testing.
Union members gain testing use protections
Labor organizations with a collective bargaining agreement effective in Maine need state approval for voluntary member testing programs. Programs must follow state collection and testing rules. They can test new members and periodically test existing members, but cannot randomly test members. Results cannot be used to discipline members or deny referrals to jobs that do not require testing.
Worker test results get privacy protections
Employers cannot receive unconfirmed non-negative results, including through billing or timing clues. Preliminary negative results must also wait until a confirmation result would have arrived. Without the tested person's consent, reports cannot give numbers; they state negative or confirmed positive, with or without a medical explanation. Exceptions apply in grievances, administrative proceedings, and civil cases. Employers must promptly notify tested workers and applicants and provide a readable lab report on request. Medical reviewers must protect unrelated health information, although their exchanges with workers do not have physician-patient privilege.
Workers can explain positive test results
Only an independent medical review officer can report a confirmed positive result to an employer. The officer must be a licensed physician with substance use disorder experience and knowledge of invalid samples. The officer must contact the tested person about confirmed positive or invalid results and contact their physician when needed. Workers and applicants have three working days after notice of a confirmed positive to submit explanations or challenge it. Valid prescriptions used properly and legal medical cannabis use can provide a legitimate medical explanation. A confirmed positive remains positive, but any accepted medical explanation must appear in the report.
Workers can request certain blood tests
Employers that test for alcohol or cannabis metabolites must ensure their testing facility and confirmation lab can accept and test blood. If an employee requests blood testing for those substances, another sample for them cannot be tested. Blood must be drawn by an authorized medical professional or another trained, qualified person. State health officials can allow blood testing for other substances when blood levels relate to impairment.
Workers pay uncovered rehabilitation costs
For employers with more than 20 full-time employees, workers now bear rehabilitation costs not covered by group health insurance. This replaces the employer cost-sharing rule. The change does not apply to Maine municipalities or other state political subdivisions. It also does not apply when testing is required by the federal Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991.
Worker testing expands with selection safeguards
Employers can use random or criteria-based testing through a union agreement or for positions posing an unreasonable safety threat while impaired. An employer-wide program generally requires at least 50 employees outside a collective bargaining agreement. Employers required to test to keep a contract can also establish a program. Union-covered workers are excluded from employer-wide testing unless they agree through their agreement. Criteria-based selection uses service milestones or site or project criteria, not suspected substance use; random selection gives each covered worker an equal chance. The state must approve the policy, and an entity free from employer influence must select workers using a list without names.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsor
Charles Skold
Democratic • House
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
Signed by Governor, ACTPUB Chapter 666
4/13/2026PASSED TO BE ENACTED, in concurrence.
4/6/2026SenatePASSED TO BE ENACTED. Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
4/2/2026HouseReport READ and ACCEPTED, in concurrence.READ ONCE.Committee Amendment "A" (H-950) READ and ADOPTED, in concurrence.Under suspension of the Rules, READ A SECOND TIME and PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED AS AMENDED BY Committee Amendment "A" (H-950), in concurrence.Ordered sent down forthwith.
4/2/2026SenateCONSENT CALENDAR - FIRST DAYUnder suspension of the rules CONSENT CALENDAR - SECOND DAY.The Bill was PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED as Amended by Committee Amendment "A" (H-950).Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
4/2/2026HouseThe Bill was REFERRED to the Committee on LABOR in concurrence
1/7/2026SenateCommittee on Labor suggested and ordered printed. The Bill was REFERRED to the Committee on LABOR.Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
1/7/2026House
Bill Text
Amendment C-A (H-950), adopted by House & Senate
Enacted
Introduced
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