Privacy Law Library

Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (privacy safeguards)

MN DATWA

Employees · Health

Allows workplace drug, alcohol, and cannabis testing only under a written policy and only in listed situations (post-offer applicant testing, annual physicals with notice, random testing for safety-sensitive jobs, reasonable suspicion, and treatment follow-up). Laboratories may tell employers only whether substances were present, and test results are private and confidential, not usable in criminal cases against the employee.

Where
Minnesota
Citation
Minn. Stat. 181.950 to 181.957
Status
In force
Enforced by
Employees and applicants by civil action; state, county, or city attorneys and bargaining agents for injunctive relief (181.956)
People can sue
Yes
Penalties
Employers or laboratories that violate 181.950 to 181.954 are liable for damages allowable at law, with possible attorney fees; courts may enjoin violations and order reinstatement with back pay; retaliation is barred (181.956).
Applies to
  • Employers that request or require drug, alcohol, or cannabis testing of employees or job applicants in Minnesota, and testing laboratories (181.951, 181.954, 181.956)

Practices it requires

  • Test employees or applicants only under a written testing policy, by a qualified laboratory, in the circumstances the statute authorizes, and never on an arbitrary and capricious basis.Minn. Stat. 181.951
  • Laboratories may disclose to the employer only the presence or absence of drugs, cannabis, alcohol, or metabolites in a sample.Minn. Stat. 181.954, subd. 1

Security duties

  • Treat test result reports and other testing information as private and confidential, disclosing only as the statute permits.Minn. Stat. 181.954, subds. 2-3

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.

Unverified: Recent cannabis-related amendments (Laws 2023, ch. 63; 2024, chs. 110 and 121) were not dated, so last_amended is null; 181.952, 181.953, and 181.955 to 181.957 were not read.

Research reference, not legal advice.