An employee who fills a temporary position and is subsequently
hired to fill a regular classified position shall serve the required
probationary period. The beginning date of the probationary period
is the date the employee changes from temporary to probationary status.
A former Otero County employee rehired at any time to fill a
position shall serve the required probationary period.
All employees, elected officials, and Department heads are prohibited
from:
A. Using official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering
with or affecting the result of an election or a nomination for office,
or for any other political purpose.
B. Directly or indirectly coercing, attempting to coerce, commanding
or advising a state or local official or employee to pay, lend, or
contribute anything of value to a party, committee or organization,
agency, or person for a political purpose.
C. Threatening to deny promotions to any employee who does not vote
for certain candidates, requiring employees to contribute part of
their pay to a political fund, influencing subordinate employees to
buy tickets to political fund-raisers and similar events, advising
employees to take part in political activity and matters of a similar
nature.
D. Engaging in political activity while on duty.
E. Using any County-owned equipment, supplies, vehicles, space or property
for political purposes.
Employees may not hold political office as an elected official
for Otero County, during employment with the County, except as provided
in provisions of the Hatch Act.
No employee shall engage in any business or transaction or accept
private employment or other public employment or public office which
is incompatible with the proper discharge of the employee's responsibilities,
or which gives the appearance of impropriety. Determination of a conflict
shall be made by the County Manager upon consultation with the elected
official.
Prior to accepting outside employment, an employee shall request,
in writing, permission to engage in outside employment or acquire
private interest in a business. Such employment or interests shall
not interfere with the efficient performance of his/her duties or
conflict, or give rise to suspicion of conflict with the interests
of the County, his/her department or office. The elected official
or department head will consult with the County Manager and document,
in writing, the underlying justification for approval or denial. The
elected official or department head shall indicate approval or disapproval
of the employee's outside employment on the letter submitted
by the employee. A copy of this letter will be forwarded to the personnel
office for placement in the employee's file.
The County will not tolerate disparaging conduct of verbal,
nonverbal and/or physical nature by any employee against another employee
on the grounds of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
religion, national origin, disability, age, spousal affiliation or
other protected classification. Anyone violating the provisions of
this section will be subject to disciplinary action up to, and including
termination. All employees are responsible for knowing and following
this policy.
The County bases its determinations relative to employment,
training, compensation, and promotions on job-related qualifications
in compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission laws and
regulations, which prohibit discrimination based on sex. Federal and
state laws make sexual harassment unlawful.
The County of Otero is a drug-free workplace and adopts this
policy in accordance with the Drug Free Workplace Act (41 U.S.C. § 701).
The Drug and Alcohol Policy applies to all county employees of Otero
County. This policy replaces any and all previous policies and practices.
This policy is effective immediately. Violation of this policy is
cause for dismissal from employment with the County.
A. All County employees are strictly prohibited from:
(1)
Using or being under the influence of illegal drugs to any degree
during working hours or while actively engaged in the duties of employment,
including, but not limited to, lunch periods, breaks, or while on
call;
(2)
Consuming alcohol or having sufficient quantities of alcohol
in the employee's system to impair mental or bodily functions
to any degree during working hours or while actively engaged in the
duties of employment, including, but not limited to, lunch periods,
breaks, or while on call;
(3)
Using or being under the influence of prescription or over-the-counter
drugs during working hours or while actively engaged in the duties
of employment to the extent that the use of any such legal drug may
affect the safe and efficient performance of the employee's job
duties, or may endanger the safety of co-workers or members of the
public.
(4)
Possessing, selling, transferring, or purchasing of illegal
drugs or alcohol during working hours, while on County property, or
while operating County-owned vehicles or equipment. Possessing, selling,
transferring, or purchasing of illegal drugs or alcohol during working
hours, while on County property, or while operating County-owned vehicles
or equipment.
B. Pre-employment.
(1)
All applicants for employment with the County will be required
to complete a pre-employment drug test as a condition for employment.
A certified licensed physician (Medical Review Officer-MRO) is responsible
for receiving all laboratory reports and reviewing those tests to
determine the validity of a positive test. Pre-employment job applicants
that test positive for a controlled substance will not be hired.
(2)
Any employee or applicant who tests positive for alcohol or
controlled substances will not be considered for employment by the
County for a minimum of one year from the date of testing.
C. Drug and alcohol refusal and positive test result. Refusal of a drug
and alcohol test will lead to termination. Full-time or part-time
employees who test positive shall be subject to disciplinary action,
up to and including termination.
D. Post-accident/injury testing.
(1)
All Otero County employees, while performing job duties, are
subject to post-accident or post-injury drug and alcohol testing.
(2)
Otero County shall conduct post-accident and post-injury drug
testing on all employees whose actions or conduct contributed to an
accident or injury and cannot be completely discounted as a contributing
factor to the accident. Testing will be conducted as soon as practical
after an accident or injury in accordance with the following:
(a)
Alcohol testing must be conducted within two hours after the
accident or injury.
(b)
Drug testing must be conducted within eight hours after the
accident or injury.
(3)
Any person not reporting an accident shall be subject to disciplinary
action.
E. Reasonable suspicion testing. Any employee may be drug/alcohol tested
based on a reasonable suspicion. The test must be based on specific,
contemporaneous, articulable, reliable observations concerning the
appearance, behavior, speech, or body odor of the employee.
F. Random drug testing.
(1)
The County will randomly test at least 25% of safety-sensitive
employees from each department, each calendar year. A person may be
randomly selected more than once or not at all during the calendar
year.
(2)
Safety-sensitive positions include, but are not limited to:
Sheriffs Department, Road Department, Detention Center, Dispatch,
Emergency Services, Convenience Center and Wildlife Services. All
safety-sensitive employees will be placed in separate pools by department
and may be tested as often as monthly.
(3)
The County complies with the Department of Transportation (DOT)
rule, 49 CFR 40, which describes required procedures for conducting
workplace drug and alcohol testing for the federally regulated transportation
industry. Employees with commercial driver's licenses (CDLs)
are also subject to the testing requirements established by the Department
of Transportation. Random alcohol and/or substance abuse testing is
required for County CDL drivers on an unannounced basis in compliance
with these federal Department of Transportation (DOT) rules. Random
alcohol and/or substance abuse testing is characterized by randomly
selecting designated employees for drug and alcohol testing on an
unannounced basis.
(a)
Random selections are made using a scientifically valid method
that ensures each covered employee has an equal chance of being selected
each time a selection is made; thus, employees may be selected more
than once a year.
(b)
Random drug and alcohol tests will be conducted throughout the
year in an unpredictable pattern. Otero County reserves the right
to increase or decrease the frequency of testing based on its mission,
need, availability of resources, and experience in the program, consistent
with the duty to achieve a drug-free workplace.
(c)
The random selection process will be conducted in strict confidence
to ensure no employee is forewarned and the testing is unannounced.
A limited number of individuals will have knowledge of the random
selection to ensure confidentiality and the integrity of the testing
process.
(d)
Testing may be conducted any hour that employees are on duty.
(e)
An employee selected for random drug testing may obtain a deferral
of testing if the employee's supervisor concurs that a compelling
need necessitates a deferral. An employee who is in a leave status
or on an official travel status away from the test site may be a consideration
for a deferral of testing. An employee whose random drug test is deferred
will be subject to an announced test within the following 60 days.
(4)
The County reserves the right to make scheduled or random searches
of all sections of the premises generally accessible to employees
or the public and all vehicles owned or operated by Otero County.
G. Written request. The employee may request, in writing, within five
calendar days from the date of final test results from the MRO for
any pre-employment, random, post-accident, or reasonable suspicion,
a retest of the same specimen at the employee's expense. The
employee may request the testing at a different laboratory, following
the proper chain of custody. The employee may also discuss positive
test results with the MRO and may provide a valid prescription for
a positive test result to the MRO.
H. Drug-Free Workplace Act notification. Any employee convicted of a
drug or alcohol violation shall inform the Human Resources Director,
in writing, of the conviction no later than five calendar days after
the conviction. If required by the Drug-Free Workplace Act, the Human
Resources Director shall inform the appropriate federal agency of
the conviction. That employee shall automatically be subjected to
reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing for 60 months and must
complete an acceptable EAP rehabilitation program before returning
to work. Failure to notify the Human Resources Director may result
in termination.
I. Authorized testing. Continued employment with the County necessitates
that an employee complies with the Drug-Free Workplace Act and this
policy. Refusal to submit to testing, refusal or failure to produce
an adequate specimen within two hours upon arrival at the collection
site, a positive test result, or tampering with a specimen is cause
for dismissal from employment.
J. Confidentiality of records. All drug and alcohol testing information
is confidential and should be treated as such by anyone authorized
to review or compile records. The results of a drug/alcohol test of
Otero County employees may not be disclosed without prior written
consent of such employee unless the disclosure would be:
(1)
To the Medical Review Officer.
(2)
To the EAP administrator.
(3)
To any supervisor or management official within the County having
authority to take adverse personnel action against such employee.
(4)
Pursuant to the order of a court: of competent jurisdiction
or where required to defend against any challenge against any adverse
personnel action.
K. Disciplinary action. Otero County has zero tolerance for drugs and
alcohol in the workplace. Any employees testing positive for a controlled
substance or a 0.04 alcohol level or greater or a refusal to take
a post-accident test, reasonable suspicion drug testing, or random
drug and alcohol testing shall be subject to disciplinary action up
to and including termination. If an employee tests positive for drugs
or alcohol, the employee will be placed on administrative leave pending
disciplinary action and/or rehabilitation alternatives.
L. Employee Assistance Program. The County offers an Employee Assistance
Program (EAP) to all County employees. Employees may self-refer to
the program for help with an alcohol or drug problem. An employee
who self-refers may request to utilize accrued sick leave, annual
leave, or leave without pay during any treatment program, up to a
maximum of 12 weeks as per FMLA. Self-referral to the EAP is only
available to an employee prior to a drug or alcohol test being administered
to the employee, which results in a positive test result. Employees
who enter EAP are automatically deemed subject to reasonable suspicion
drug and alcohol testing for 60 months.
M. Drug and alcohol concentrations. Concentrations of an illegal drug
or alcohol at or above the following levels [in nanogram/milliliter
(ng/ml)] shall be considered a positive test result after a confirmatory
GC/MS test of:
Substance
|
Level
(ng/ml)
|
---|
Marijuana metabolite (THC)
|
50
|
Cocaine metabolite
|
150
|
Opiates
|
2,000
|
Codeine
|
2,000
|
Phencyclidine
|
25
|
Amphetamines
|
500
|
Methamphetamine
|
500
|
Alcohol/Ethanol
|
20
|
Benzodiazepine
|
200
|
Propoxyphene
|
150
|
N. Permissive use of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. The legal
use of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs is permitted while on
the premises of Otero County, while on duty, while conducting County-related
business or other activities off premises, while driving a County-owned
or -leased vehicle, or while operating or using other County-owned
or -leased property or equipment only if it does not impair an employee's
ability to perform the essential functions of the job (or operate
the vehicle, property or other equipment) effectively and in a safe
manner that does not endanger the employee, citizens or other individuals
in the workplace. Examples of impairment include, but are not limited
to, drowsiness, dizziness, confusion or feeling unsteady.
O. Mandatory disclosure by employees. Employees taking prescription
medication and/or over-the-counter medication must report such use
to either their department head or the Human Resources Director if
there is a reasonable likelihood the medication will impair the employee's
ability to perform the essential functions of his/her job (or operate
a vehicle or other equipment, if applicable) effectively and in a
safe manner that does not endanger the employee, citizens or other
individuals in the workplace. Examples of impairment include, but
are not limited to, drowsiness, dizziness, confusion or feeling unsteady.