Page 195 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

that employees are engaged in the illegal use of drugs. Among such events are a deteriora-
tion in job performance or changes in personal traits or characteristics; a reported observa-
tion of the individual’s behavior in the work environment; changes in personal behavior not
attributable to other factors; involvement in or contribution to an accident in which the use
of drugs is reasonably suspected, regardless of whether the accident involves actual injury;
and an alleged violation of, or conviction for a violation of, criminal drug law statutes
involving illegal or prescription drugs. The agency shall maintain drug-testing results for five
years, and the results shall be made immediately available to the State Department of
Human Services. Individuals who are to be tested must pay the appropriate fees necessary
to obtain a drug test pursuant to the agency’s policies. Drug-testing results obtained under
this act are confidential and may be disclosed only for purposes of enforcement. Childcare
agencies failing to comply with the regulation may be denied a license or a license renewal,
and ultimately the license can be suspended or revoked. The act becomes effective July 1,
2009.
Human trafficking. The State Code Annotated was amended by the addition of the State
Human Trafficking Act of 2007. The amended legislation created Class B felony trafficking
offenses for activities in which a person knowingly subjects another person to, or maintains
another person in, labor or sexual servitude or knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, trans-
ports, provides, or obtains, by any means, another person for the purpose of labor or sex-
ual servitude. The offense of involuntary labor servitude is committed if the person
knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, another person to forced labor by (1) causing or
threatening to cause physical harm to any person, (2) physically restraining or threatening
to physically restrain any person, (3) abusing or threatening to abuse the law or legal
process, (4) knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or possessing any
actual or purported government identification, including immigration documents, or any
other actual or purported government identification document, of any person, or (5) using
blackmail or using or threatening to cause financial harm for the purpose of exercising
financial control over any person. The commission of an act of involuntary servitude is a
Class C felony. A Class C felony for trafficking of persons occurs when a person knowingly
(1) recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains, by any means (or attempts to
do so), another person, intending or knowing that the person will be subjected to involun-
tary servitude or (2) benefits financially or by receiving anything of value from participation
in an involuntary-servitude venture that has engaged in an act described in this paragraph
as involuntary labor servitude.
Time off. The State Code Annotated relative was amended with regard to time off for
volunteer firefighters. As amended, the code permits any employee who is an active volun-
teer firefighter to leave work in order to respond to fire calls during the employee’s regular
hours of employment, without loss of pay or any accumulated vacation time, sick leave, or
earned overtime. Such employee may be permitted to take off the next scheduled work
period within 12 hours following his or her response as a vacation day or sick leave day
without loss of pay if the employee assisted in fighting the fire for more than five hours. If
the employee is not entitled to such time off, the employee may be permitted to take off
the work period in question without pay. The employer may require the employee to sub-
mit a written statement from the chief of the volunteer fire department verifying that the

178 The H R Toolkit