Court Opinion

ID: 9624871
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:20:07.452441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:46.494652
License: Public Domain

Benham, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Because I believe that principles of due process and public policy require this Court to affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals in this case, I must respectfully dissent.
With regard to a due process analysis in this case, the majority opinion merely holds, without any authority, that the notice involved here is not that which is required by due process. The majority opinion then digresses into an unnecessary discussion of presumptions, when the real issue here is whether employees are entitled to be told what the consequences of their choices will be. The bottom line here is that employees who are hurt on the job and have some reason to fear or distrust drug testing are subject to being deprived of workers’ compensation benefits wdthout meaningful notice of that potential sanction. I cannot agree that such employees are afforded due process of law.
The public policy behind the remedial and humane purposes of workers’ compensation requires that employees be given an opportunity to conform to expected modes of conduct. Without adequate notice of the consequences of nonconformance, the purposes of workers’ compensation may be thwarted. That result is especially regrettable in light of the fact that the giving of the notice involved here places no burden on employers because there are already a number of required notices in the area of workers’ compensation. Furthermore, notice of the consequences of refusing testing is likely to further the legislature’s goal of reducing drug use in the workplace and increase the likelihood that employees will behave in a manner which will permit their compliance with the drug-testing requirement.
Because the Court of Appeals was correct in its assessment of the issues in this case and because the majority opinion from this Court will do harm to the safety-net the workers’ compensation system affords the workers of Georgia, I must dissent. I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
I am authorized to state that Justice Hunstein joins in this dissent.