by Nick Delgado

Guam - Random drug testing in GovGuam agencies leads to three employees parting public service. "We did have three that tested positive for drug use, we did go through the appropriate procedures in dealing with that issues because there are requirements that we need to meet when we notify an employee that they did test positive for drugs," said DPW director Joanne Brown.

Out of 139 Public Works employees that recently underwent random drug testing, three turned up positive for an illegal substance. Brown could not disclose the specific drug the three employees tested positive for. However, she confirms two of the staff were bus drivers, while the other was a heavy equipment mechanic. "Of the three none of them work at DPW today; we had to two that voluntarily resigned, we were beginning the adverse action process, two of them resigned and one was terminated by the department."

It's been three years since DPW last conducted random drug testing. Acting Governor Ray Tenorio says the testing is in line with the Administration's reorganization plans to right size GovGuam and to clean house. "If a Government of Guam employee is doing drugs, I would highly recommend that they stop," he warned. "Of course, it's not easy to stop - but enroll yourself in a program to try to reduce your dependency or eliminate your dependency on drugs. We are a tolerant community and very forgiving community but people of Guam expect high standards from our employees and so do I and so does the governor."

Standards that employees should be well aware of. "This is not an intro to life decision that we need to relay to people I think everyone who is an adult who works in DPW or any other GovGuam agency know that the requirement is a drug free workplace and if an employee tested positive particularly in a designated position we will take appropriate action as what happened in this particular case," said Brown.