A frequent issue for employees in today’s workplaces is drug testing. All too often the drug testing laboratory makes a mistake. The lab mistakenly finds Joe Worker tested positive for cocaine. But, it is a false positive. What does Joe do? The Texas Supreme Court re-affirmed what it said in prior cases: Joe can do nothing.
In Houston Area Safety Council v. Mendez, 671 S.W. 3d 580 (Tex. 2023), Guillermo Mendez received a false positive for cocaine. Mendez was a pipefitter. He had been tested many times in his previous 25 years. He was employed by Valero Ardmore Refinery. Valero referred him to Houston Area Safety Council for the drug test. HASC then sent his sample to Psychemedics for testing. Psychemedics produced a positive result. A second sample was then sent a different collection entity, DISA Global Solutions. The second sample came back negative. Mendez then sent a...
