Order a Drug Test in Montana

Pre-Employment Drug Testing in Montana

Montana Code Annotated section 39-2-208 permits testing any prospective employee as a condition of hire. Because a prospective employee is an applicant for an employee position under the Act, confirm that the job falls within the Act’s covered categories before relying on this authority.

• Confirm the position is covered by the Act’s employee definition.
• Apply the written qualified testing policy consistently.
• Use split-specimen collection, chain of custody, confirmation, and MRO review.
• Address the employer’s policy for a positive applicant result.
• Evaluate Montana’s marijuana and lawful-product provisions before acting on THC.

Employer Testing Programs

A qualified program must include the written subjects listed in section 39-2-207 and make its policies available for employee review at least 60 days before their terms are implemented or changed. Testing is at the employer’s expense, and an employee must be paid the regular rate, including benefits, for testing time.

• Use only the testing reasons and procedures authorized by the Act.
• Give employees the required report, explanation, and split-sample rights.
• Restrict results under the Act’s confidentiality rule.
• Keep DOT and non-DOT policies, forms, and orders separate.

Select the panel and enter the donor information first. After the case is created, checkout searches available collection sites using the Montana city, ZIP code, or area entered for the donor.

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Covered Employers and Positions

The Act defines employer as an entity with one or more employees that is located or doing business in Montana, including local government. Its employee definition is narrower: it covers people performing, supervising, or managing specified hazardous, security, public-safety, public-health, driving, or fiduciary work.

Independent contractors and elected local-government officials are excluded. Confirm the position and worker status before applying the Act’s testing authority.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-206

Qualified Program and 60-Day Review Period

Written policies and procedures must be available for employee review at least 60 days before their terms are implemented or changed. The policy must address the subjects listed in section 39-2-207, including testing types, substances and alcohol cutoff, procedures, conduct standards, consequences, confidentiality, education, and assistance resources.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-207

Applicant and Random Testing

A prospective employee may be tested as a condition of hire for a covered position. Random testing may cover all salaried and wage-earning employees on an established date or use a scientifically valid selection process for a stated calendar period and testing rate.

A random pool must include supervisory and managerial employees. The employee must sign a receipt for the written random-selection process, and the receipt must be kept in the personnel file.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-208

Reasonable Suspicion, Accident and Follow-Up

Reasonable-suspicion testing is allowed when the employer has reason to suspect that substance or alcohol use is impairing an employee’s faculties on the job, and the employer must comply with the supervisor-training requirement referenced in section 39-2-208.

Post-accident testing requires reason to believe an employee’s act or failure directly or proximately caused a work accident involving death, injury, or more than $1,500 in property damage. Policy-based follow-up testing may continue for up to one year after the first follow-up test.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-208

Collection, Confirmation, MRO and Cost

Non-DOT procedures must be at least as stringent as 49 CFR Part 40, use FDA-cleared methodology, maintain chain of custody, collect a split specimen, and confirm every screened positive by mass spectrometry. A positive must receive Medical Review Officer review and certification before action.

The employer pays testing costs and must compensate the employee at the regular rate, including benefits, for time spent testing.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-207

Report, Rebuttal and Confidentiality

The employee must receive the test report, may explain or rebut the result, and may request an independent test of the split sample. The employer pays if the additional result is negative; the employee pays if it is positive. A reasonable explanation or medical opinion can bar adverse action and require destruction of the result, subject to the statute’s marijuana-law exception.

Information received through the qualified program is confidential, subject to the limited uses identified in section 39-2-211.

Official state sources: MCA § 39-2-209, MCA § 39-2-210, and MCA § 39-2-211

Lawful Off-Duty Product Protection

Section 39-2-313 generally prohibits refusing employment or discriminating in compensation, promotion, or other employment terms because a person lawfully uses a lawful product off the employer’s premises during nonworking hours. The statute’s definition of lawful product expressly includes marijuana.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-313

Performance and Safety Exceptions

The off-duty protection does not apply when use affects the person’s ability to perform job-related responsibilities or the safety of other employees, or when it conflicts with a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably related to the job.

Section 39-2-313 also states that an employer does not violate the protection when acting on a good-faith belief that its action is permissible under an established substance-abuse or alcohol program or policy.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 39-2-313

Workplace Policy Authority Remains

Montana’s marijuana law does not require an employer to permit or accommodate marijuana conduct in a workplace or on employer property. It does not prohibit discipline for violating a workplace drug policy or working while intoxicated.

The law also preserves the ability to decline to hire, discharge, discipline, or otherwise act because of a workplace-policy violation or workplace intoxication.

Official state source: Montana Code Annotated § 16-12-108(5)

THC Results Need Policy-Level Review

A urine THC result may reflect prior use and does not by itself establish current impairment. Before an ordinary non-DOT employment decision, apply the qualified program, MRO process, lawful-product rules, workplace policy, job duties, safety factors, and any other applicable law.

Federal DOT marijuana testing remains mandatory for covered safety-sensitive work regardless of Montana’s marijuana laws.

Official sources: MCA § 39-2-313, MCA § 16-12-108, and U.S. DOT — 49 CFR Part 40

DOT Rules Are Separate from Non-DOT Testing

A personal or employer non-DOT drug test should not be substituted for a test that is required under DOT regulations. DOT programs have specific requirements for test reasons, forms, collection procedures, laboratories, Medical Review Officers, refusals, records, and return-to-duty processes.

Federal source: U.S. Department of Transportation — 49 CFR Part 40

Examples of DOT-Regulated Industries

• Commercial motor carriers regulated by FMCSA.
• Aviation employers regulated by FAA.
• Railroad employers regulated by FRA.
• Public transit employers regulated by FTA.
• Pipeline operators regulated by PHMSA.
• Other covered transportation operations under federal rules.