Order a Drug Test in South Dakota

Pre-Employment Drug Testing in South Dakota

A private employer generally may make employment conditional on a negative drug test when the requirement is lawful, communicated clearly, and applied consistently to similarly situated applicants. The policy should identify covered positions, the panel, the timing of testing, and the consequences of a refusal or confirmed positive result. The employer should classify any safety-sensitive jobs before testing and establish a confidential process for reviewing registered qualifying-patient status.

• Give clear advance notice of the testing requirement.
• Use job-related, neutral criteria for covered positions.
• Apply the same criteria to similarly situated applicants.
• Use documented collection and chain-of-custody procedures.
• Confirm non-negative screens at a professional certified laboratory.
• Use Medical Review Officer review when appropriate.
• Keep test and medical information confidential.
• Document which jobs meet South Dakota’s safety-sensitive definition.
• Apply medical-cannabis protections before acting on a cannabis result.
• Review federal, discrimination, contract, and collective-bargaining rules.

Employer Testing Programs

A defensible program explains who is covered, substances tested, testing reasons, specimen and laboratory procedures, refusals, confirmation and review, employee opportunities to provide legitimate medical information, consequences, records, and confidentiality. Apply the written policy as drafted and revise it before changing program practice. For cannabis, the policy should distinguish safety-sensitive jobs from other positions and explain how registered qualifying-patient information will be reviewed.

• Use a neutral selection process for any random program.
• Train supervisors to document objective reasonable-suspicion facts.
• Tie post-accident criteria to legitimate safety concerns.
• Keep DOT and non-DOT programs, forms, and records separate.
• State how refusals, adulteration, and substituted specimens are handled.
• Use laboratory confirmation before treating a screen as positive.
• Use consistent review and consequence procedures.
• Limit disclosure to personnel with a business need to know.
• Do not treat a cannabis-metabolite result as present-impairment evidence.

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

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Private-Employer Framework

Private employers generally have room to use pre-employment and employee testing under a lawful policy. The absence of a single statewide testing code is not a license for arbitrary treatment: the testing reason, job coverage, selection method, panel, review, and consequences should be legitimate and consistently administered.

Government employers, union workplaces, federally regulated employers, and organizations operating under a contract, grant, or licensing rule may have additional limits or mandatory procedures.

Written Policy and Consistent Administration

A written policy should identify prohibited conduct, covered workers, testing reasons, collection and laboratory procedures, refusals, confirmation, medical review, retesting, consequences, confidentiality, and any assistance options.

SDCL 34-20G-24 expressly permits an employer to establish and enforce a drug-free workplace policy, including a testing program that complies with state and federal law. The same statute permits action under that lawful policy, but the policy still must be coordinated with the chapter’s registered-patient protections and safety-sensitive exception.

State law: SDCL 34-20G-24

Unemployment and Work-Connected Misconduct

SDCL 61-6-14 generally denies benefits to a person discharged or suspended from the person’s most recent employment of at least thirty calendar days for misconduct connected with work. The denial continues until the person is reemployed for at least six calendar weeks in insured employment during the current benefit year and earns at least the weekly benefit amount in each of those weeks. The thirty-day condition does not apply to an additional claim filed during the benefit year.

SDCL 61-6-14.1 defines misconduct through failures to obey rules or duties, substantial or willful disregard of the employer’s interests, and sufficiently culpable carelessness, while excluding inefficiency, inability, and good-faith errors. A deliberate drug-policy violation or refusal may support a misconduct finding when the evidence meets that definition, but neither statute makes every positive result or refusal automatically disqualifying.

State law: SDCL 61-6-14 and SDCL 61-6-14.1

Workers’ Compensation and Intoxication

SDCL 62-4-37 provides that no compensation may be allowed for an injury or death due to the employee’s willful misconduct, including intoxication, illegal use of a Schedule I or Schedule II drug, intentional self-injury, or a willful safety-related failure listed in the statute. The defendant employer bears the burden of proof.

Because the statute requires the injury or death to be “due to” the listed conduct, a positive result alone should not be described as automatically defeating a claim or proving causation.

State law: SDCL 62-4-37

Registered Patients and Safety-Sensitive Jobs

SDCL 34-20G-22 generally gives a registered qualifying patient using cannabis medically the same state and local law rights as a person solely prescribed a pharmaceutical medication for interactions with an employer and drug testing. SDCL 34-20G-23 limits those rights when they conflict with a federal obligation or would cause an employer to lose a federal monetary or licensing benefit.

For a safety-sensitive job, an employer may take adverse action against an employee or refuse to hire an applicant based solely on a positive test for cannabis metabolites. State law defines such a job by tasks or duties the employer reasonably believes could cause illness, injury, or death or serious property damage.

State law: SDCL 34-20G-22, 34-20G-23, and 34-20G-1

Federal, Government, and Contract Rules

DOT-covered transportation testing must follow 49 CFR Part 40 and the applicable agency rule. Federal contractors and grantees may have duties under the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act, and government testing may raise constitutional, civil-service, or other public-employment requirements.

Collective-bargaining agreements, licensing rules, client contracts, and industry-specific requirements can also determine whether, when, and how testing occurs. Keep any federally mandated process distinct from a general non-DOT program.

Federal source: U.S. DOT — 49 CFR Part 40

Registered Qualifying-Patient Rights

South Dakota’s Department of Health administers a medical-cannabis program for qualifying patients. Under SDCL 34-20G-22, a registered qualifying patient using cannabis for a medical purpose generally must receive the same rights under state and local law as a person solely prescribed a pharmaceutical medication for employer interactions, employer drug testing, and testing required by state or local government.

A card is not a blanket pass for every workplace circumstance. Employers should verify status through a confidential process, identify the law and policy applicable to the decision, and apply the safety-sensitive and federal exceptions accurately.

Official sources: South Dakota Department of Health — Medical Cannabis Program and SDCL 34-20G-22

Safety-Sensitive-Job Exception

A safety-sensitive job is any position with tasks or duties the employer reasonably believes could cause an individual’s illness, injury, or death or result in serious property damage. State law permits adverse action against a person employed in such a job based solely on a positive test for cannabis metabolites.

An employer may likewise refuse to hire an applicant seeking a safety-sensitive job based solely on that result. Because the exception depends on the work, employers should classify positions from actual tasks and document the reasonable safety basis before a test result arrives.

State law: SDCL 34-20G-1 and SDCL 34-20G-22

Drug-Free Workplace and On-Duty Conduct

Employers are not required to allow cannabis ingestion, possession, transfer, display, or transportation in the workplace or working under the influence. SDCL 34-20G-24 allows an employer to establish and enforce a drug-free workplace policy, including a testing program compliant with state and federal law, and SDCL 34-20G-28 permits discipline for workplace ingestion or working under the influence.

The policy should distinguish a laboratory metabolite result from observed conduct or present impairment. A urine cannabis result can reflect prior exposure and, by itself, does not show when use occurred or whether the person is currently under the influence.

State law: SDCL 34-20G-24 and SDCL 34-20G-28

Adult Use and Federal Requirements

South Dakota’s medical program does not authorize general adult-use marijuana possession; the state’s controlled-substance laws continue to prohibit nonmedical possession. Separately, SDCL 34-20G-23 limits registered-patient rights when they conflict with an employer’s federal obligation or would cause the employer to lose a federal monetary or licensing benefit.

DOT-regulated employers must follow federal marijuana-testing rules. Non-DOT employers should also review federal contracts, grants, licensing duties, disability law, and any collective-bargaining agreement before finalizing cannabis policy or taking action.

State law: SDCL 22-42-6 and SDCL 34-20G-23

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.