Phillips No, I am not aware of any case law against an employer, but aware of a few cases against the individual. The only law that I'm aware of relating to D&A outside the Road Traffic Act is the Transport and Works Act 1992, whereby the employer must show 'due dilligence', which equates to D&A testing. Due dilligence will mitigate any breaches iof the Act. However, the TWA only applies railways and other guided transport systems, even then it only applies to those carrying out 'safety critical' roles in the rail industry, defined as train drivers, signalmen etc. Ray

Alcoholism is not a recognised illness under DDA so although a couple have tried none to date have succeeded in changing this. There have been a number of ET cases where employees have been dismissed due to breaches involving alcohol (this case was found in favour of claimant Sinclair v Wandsworth London Borough Council, Employment Appeal Tribunal) This was about a report of smelling of alcohol..so probably was weak to begin with... You need a good strong policy that deals with two things: An employee who says he has a problem and what you do about it An employee who turns up under the influence and how you recognise it Another action as has been mooted earlier - define safety critical roles within your organisation. It will help to apply a more cost effective/ sensible policy across the business. You would want to be the one who dismissed someone for being drunk in charge of the photocopier! If you need any more then please give me a shout. have a good day :)