Every testing program stands on a written policy, and the policy is where programs most often fail quietly. DOT rules require covered employers to have a written policy and educational materials on file, distributed to every driver with a signed certificate of receipt (49 CFR 382.601). On the non-DOT side, the policy is the program: it defines who is covered, when testing happens, and what results mean. And in New Jersey the ground has shifted. The state's cannabis law bars adverse action based only on cannabinoid metabolites, requires a physical evaluation alongside the drug test, and, since a published Appellate Division decision on May 26, 2026, can be enforced by applicants directly in court, with employees likely to follow (N.J.S.A. 24:6I-52; Sanders v. The Levari Group, LLC). Positions subject to federally required testing sit outside those protections. A policy written years ago may now be a liability. PSI builds and maintains policies with you, from a small employer's first written policy to board-adopted school district policies and municipal policies that have to survive counsel and labor review. Your attorney gives the final sign-off; we bring the testing-industry substance that makes that review fast.
When this is the program
- A growing company writing its first testing policy
- A policy written before New Jersey's cannabis laws changed
- A school board or municipality that needs a policy to survive formal review
- An employer whose auditor asked for the written program and found a gap
What's included
- The DOT-required written policy and employee educational materials, including the alcohol thresholds and consequences 49 CFR 382.601(b) requires the materials to explain
- The signed certificate of receipt for every driver, with the original kept on file (49 CFR 382.601(d))
- Non-DOT policies that define coverage, testing events, and consequences clearly, and keep the DOT and non-DOT programs completely separate as 49 CFR 40.13 requires
- New Jersey cannabis-law awareness built in: the metabolite rule, the physical evaluation by a certified Workplace Impairment Recognition Evaluator, and the federal carve-out
- Board-adopted district policies and municipal policies drafted for public-sector review
- Annual review and upkeep as regulations and case law move
- Written to hand your counsel a near-finished document
How it works with PSI
- The policy is stage one of the PSI program; everything else in your program enforces what it says
- Reviewed against how your testing actually runs, so the paper matches the practice
- Kept current year to year as part of the ongoing relationship
Common questions
Is this legal advice?
No. Final review belongs with your attorney. What PSI brings is the testing-industry substance: the federal requirements, the program mechanics, and how New Jersey employers are handling cannabis. Counsel review goes faster when the draft arrives nearly finished.
We already have a policy. Why revisit it?
Because the law moved. On May 26, 2026 the New Jersey Appellate Division held in Sanders v. The Levari Group, LLC that an applicant refused hire over a positive cannabinoid-metabolite test can sue under the state cannabis law, a matter of first impression. That reading may develop further, and none of this is legal advice, but a non-DOT policy that predates it is worth an hour of review before an incident forces the question. Federally required DOT testing is not affected.