Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog | Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

Advocates of Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) testing for alcohol use promote it as a tool for preventing or intervening at an early date in situations of alcohol abuse where you may be a danger to yourself or others. However, if you are being forced to perform EtG tests on a regular basis at work, you understand that these tests are a method of intimidation and are backed up by a constant threat of losing your job.

If you are being subject to EtG testing, you should know that it gives a high rate of false positives. The test does not actually test for alcohol, but, instead, it tests what is known as a biomarker for alcohol. Ethyl Glucuronide is a metabolic product of alcohol. Alcohol itself is quickly metabolized by the body, making it very difficult for people who want to control your behavior to get what they consider reliable measures of your habits. Most previous biomarkers of alcohol use indicated high levels of abuse, such as heavy drinking for several consecutive days.

The promise of EtG is that it can, supposedly, tell whether you had even one drink last night. It is this sensitivity that makes it desirable for enforces of work teetotaler policies. However, this sensitivity comes with a price. EtG presence can also indicate that you had chicken Marsala last night, had a pickle with your sandwich at lunch, or even used a lotion or hand sanitizer and inhaled alcohol fumes. In fact, the common tests for EtG indicate the presence of 100, 250, 500, or 1000 ng/ml of EtG in urine, but merely inhaling alcohol fumes can give an EtG rate of 700 ng/ml, and incidental exposure to alcohol can lead to EtG levels of up to 1500 ng/ml.

Advocates of testing claim that you can avoid inhaling fumes with "simple effort," but for nurses and other health care professionals, sanitizing the hands and using cleaning products which may give off alcohol fumes is not optional. This leads to an extremely high rate of false positives, which can precipitate unjust punitive action, or even lead to wrongful termination.

If you have suffered disciplinary action at work or been fired as a result of an EtG test, know that there is no scientific evidence to justify that action, and you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the experienced Ethyl Glucuronide lawyers at Pomerantz, Perlberger, and Lewis, LLP, today for a free initial consultation and case evaluation.